44. Soliloquia 2.7.14 (BA 5:112); trans. Gilligan, FOTC 5:397.
The Philosopher 57
The Art of Soliloquy
Augustine, following Plotinus, argued that the way to the divine and to truth lies within, that the way upward to God is via the inward. In an utterly unique (though incomplete) project, Augustine turned the philosophic dialogue inward, creating a new literary genre: a dialogue with one's inner self, or "soliloquy." The word was his own coinage, as he notes here. From Soliloquies, Book 2: (7.14) Because we are speaking to ourselves alone, I have chosen to entitle this Soliloquies, a name which is, to be sure, a new one and perhaps an awkward one, but one which is quite suitable to indicate its purpose. Since, on the one hand, truth cannot be better pursued than by question-and-answer and since, on the other hand, hardly anyone can be found who is not ashamed to be defeated in argument, with the result that it almost always happens that a subject for discussion which is well begun is driven out of mind by the unruly noise of self-opinion, accompanied also by wounded feelings which are usually concealed but at times evident—for these reasons, it was my pleasure to seek the truth with God's help in peace and propriety by questioning and answering myself.44
To Know God and the Soul
Augustine says that he composed Soliloquies late at night after his students had gone to bed, and he lay awake wrestling interiorly. The following is the opening section where he first enters into dialogue with Reason. As in the opening of Confessions, Augustine takes on the problem of how we can say that we love God when we do not clearly know God. From Soliloquies, Book 1: (1.1) For a long time I was turning over in my mind many different matters, searching for days with all my heart, probing my own inner self, and seeking the good (and what evil needed to be avoided), when all at once a voice spoke to me—whether it was myself or another inside me or outside of me, I do not know. This was the very thing I tried to find out. Reason thus spoke to me: Reason. Now then, suppose you had found something; to whom would you entrust your discoveries in order to move on to other matters?
Augustine. To my memory, of course.
44. Soliloquia 2.7.14 (BA 5:112); trans. Gilligan, FOTC 5:397.