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Document Details : Title: Augustine's In-Subiecto Proof Subtitle: The Immortality of the Soul in the Soliloquia Author(s): DUTTON, Blake D. Journal: Augustiniana Volume: 73 Issue: 1 Date: 2023 Pages: 1-29 DOI: 10.2143/AUG.73.1.3292386 Abstract : Among the aims of Augustine’s Soliloquia – a dialogue between Augustine and himself in the guise of Reason – is to establish that the soul is immortal. This aim is accomplished by Reason, who presents Augustine with a proof of the immortality of the soul that has come to be known as the 'in-subiecto' proof. After discussing the motivation that underlies it, this paper gives a simple presentation of the proof as a deductive argument and examines its premises one by one in an effort to clarify their meaning and lay bare their justification. It then identifies two problems that the proof faces. These are: (i) in its appeal to the presence of the discipline of disputation in the soul to establish the soul’s immortality, the proof equivocates in its treatment of that discipline, and (ii) in its identification of the discipline of disputation with truth, the proof implausibly suggests that (a) the discipline of disputation is that by which all true things are true and that (b) God (who is also identified with truth) is ontologically dependent on the soul. The objective in identifying these problems is not to pass judgment on the proof. Rather, it is to foster philosophical in addition to exegetical understanding of it. |
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