De Ordine
De Ordine ( Latin: "On Order") is an early work by the Latin doctor of the church Augustine of Hippo . It was written in the late autumn of 386 in Cassiciacum near what is now Milan and is written in dialogue form.
background
After giving up teaching as a rhetorician, Augustine retired to the estate of his friend Verecundus in Cassiciacum with some of the students entrusted to him and his mother . There he not only recovered from his physical ailments, but also practiced an education for his students that was contrary to his previous teaching activity, which, in addition to linguistic, intellectual and artistic training, should also cultivate the moral and religious conscience. For this purpose, Augustine structured daily life on the estate into clear sections and thus gave his students and himself a clear order. Before daybreak, Augustine met with his disciples for morning prayers, before they either went to study in the morning or took part in the work on the estate. In the afternoon the students studied under Augustine's supervision and read texts by Cicero , Plato and Virgil , among others , which were mostly discussed extensively. The works of Augustine, which were created in Cassiciacum, are written versions of the dialogues that Augustine maintained with his students and were part of the lessons. In addition to the work "De Ordine" dealt with here, this also includes " De Academicis ", " De beata vita " and " Soliloquia ".
content
The first book
preface
In the preface to "De Ordine", Augustine turns to his friend Zenobius, who is often mentioned in the early works. In it he describes the search for the order of things and the order of the totality of the world, which is one of the most difficult problems for man to grasp.
The first conversation
The starting point of the first dialogue is a nocturnal conversation in the bedroom of Augustine and his two students Licentius and Tyrgetius. This is stimulated by the irregular babbling of a brook, which leads to a discussion about the source of this irregularity and, as a result, to a discussion about the order of things. This nocturnal dialogue serves as the basis for the following, more in-depth discussions and clarifies the distribution of roles within the two books. Licentius takes the position that everything has an order, since nothing happens without a cause . Tyrgetius is undecided and would like to carefully weigh the arguments to be put forward, which is why he plays the role of mediator in the course of the book. Augustine's own position is difficult to determine at the beginning of the book, as he, as the teacher of his two friends, assumes the position of a maid and leads the discussion.
The second conversation
The second conversation, which takes place the day after the night conversation, serves to consolidate and deepen the positions considered the day before. Starting from an eulogy of Augustine, in which he formulated: "If we keep order in our life, it leads to God, and if we don't keep it in life, we do not come to God", try Augustine, Licentius and Tyrgetius a first definition that is intended to capture the order as such. Licentius, as defender of order, then determines order as follows:
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"Order is the means by which everything that God has put in this world is done."
This definition is questioned in the same conversation in general, but the specification and continuation only take place in the third conversation, which can be found in the second book. The main part of the second conversation consists of defining the virtues of science, especially philosophy . The trigger for the deviating course of the conversation is the competition between the two students Tyrgetius and Licentius for the favor of Augustine. In an inset, Augustine tearfully describes vanitas ( Latin: "vanity") as the greatest evil in science and urges his students to put the beauty of science and the search for truth in the foreground of their academic endeavors.
Another interruption in the specification of the definition of the order is the appearance of Augustine's mother Monika . At his mother's request not to include her appearance in the work, Augustine felt compelled to advocate for equality, which was unusual for his time. In this multi-page monologue , Augustine makes it clear that the unusual mention of a woman in philosophical discourse is also appropriate, provided that she loves wisdom and thus philosophy. Regarding the reluctance of women in philosophy, Augustine says:
- "Anyone who thinks [] that one must renounce all philosophy wants nothing else than that we hate wisdom."
[,]
The second book
The third conversation
The third conversation takes place every few days on a meadow near the estate. In addition to the figures Augustine, Tyrgetius and Lycentius who have appeared so far, Mother , the mother of Augustine, and his friend Alypius also take part. Building on Licentius' definition "Order is the means by which everything that God has put into this world is done." Augustine and his students explain the subtleties of order, trying to create a holistic picture of order and making it consistent with In doing so, Augustine and his disciples work their way through various questions from the order of things to the order of the whole. The necessary steps and their respective knowledge are shown below:
Question Is God also subject to order? thesis "Where everything is good [...] there is no order, because where there is the highest equality [] there is no need for order." Conclusion Since God is good, everything that is with God and God himself is not subject to order.
Question "What is being with God?" thesis The spirit is with God. The memory is with the body, while the mind and thoughts are free and not subject to any order. Conclusion All that is known is with God.
Question If all that is known is with God, is folly with God when it is known? thesis Folly describes the act of ignorance Conclusion Like darkness which cannot be seen, folly cannot be known and is therefore not with God
On the basis of the question of folly and the life of fools, the transition from the simple order of things, which works according to the principle of causality , to the order of the whole, which Augustine also calls the "unknown hidden order". referred to as. This postulates that all action, no matter how horrible, follows an inner, God-willed order, which man just often cannot recognize. Already in the preface to his work Augustine tries to use a parable to clarify this problem. In it he describes how a single stone or a small section of a mosaic appears disorganized. Only when one looks at the totality of all stones from a distance does "the different stones form a suitable whole of a single admirable beauty". The order of the whole can accordingly only be recognized by a person if he looks from the individual example and see it in the context of the world.
This realization leads Augustine to address his word to those who do not want to accept the order willed by God due to injustice and inequality (cf. theodicy ). He advises all of these to "first look around in all sciences". "But whoever is too lazy for that or given too much to other things [...] take faith to help". At the end of the third conversation, Augustine also explains his understanding of the task of philosophy, which consists in teaching "the ultimate origin of all things, the beginning of the beginnings [...] [and] deeper [en] meaning". In the context of the book and the conversation, this also corresponds to the search for the order of the whole, which Augustine counts as the task of philosophy to science instead of to doctrine of faith.
The fourth conversation
The fourth interview will take place on the same day as the third interview. However, due to a change in the weather, Augustine and his companions retreat to the bathroom, where they complete the definition of order established by Licentius in the second conversation. Building on the content of the second conversation, the conclusion that nothing can happen outside of order.
premise Order is the means by which God does everything. premise There is nothing that is not done by God. Conclusion Nothing can be done outside of order.
Text output
- Augustine: The Order (De Ordine) . Transferred from Carl Johann Perl. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 1966.
Secondary literature
- Jörg Trelenberg: Augustin's De Ordine . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2009.
supporting documents
- ↑ See foreword Carl Johann Perl, p. XII.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See Augustinus' De Ordine: Introduction, Commentary, Results by Jörg Trelenberg, p. 128ff.
- ↑ See p. 10.
- ↑ See p. 11.
- ↑ See p. 19.
- ↑ See p. 25 XXVII.
- ↑ See p. 27 XXVIII.
- ↑ See p. 29.
- ↑ Cf. Die Frau und die Philosophie , pp. 30ff.
- ↑ See p. 32 XXXI.
- ↑ See p. 27 XXVIII.
- ↑ See p. 36 II.
- ↑ See p. 36 II.
- ↑ See p. 37f. III.
- ↑ See p. 38.
- ↑ See p. 40ff. V.
- ↑ See p. 44 VIII.
- ↑ See p. 43 VIII.
- ↑ See p. 46 X.
- ↑ See p. 46f. X.
- ↑ See p. 47 XI.
- ↑ See p. 48 XII.
- ↑ See p. 4f. II.
- ↑ See p. 4 II.
- ↑ See p. 51 XV.
- ↑ See p. 51 XV.
- ↑ See p. 51 XVI.
- ↑ See p. 56 XXI.
- ↑ See p. 56 XXI.
- ↑ See p. 47ff.
- ↑ See p. 59 XXIV.
