The Structure of Augustine's Theory of Truth and Value and the Meaning of Life

本研究的特点是从奥古斯丁的观点来考虑有关真理理论的问题，我相信这对现代读者确实有启发意义。奥古斯丁在他早期的对话《反对学院派》中驳斥了学院派的真理理论。他在这段对话中提出了多种反驳的论点。他对以下问题表现出极大的关注：（1）两种真理理论（即奥古斯丁的真理理论与学院派和亚里士多德的真理理论）之间的区别是什么;（2）这种区别对坚持自己真理理论的人意味着什么。在阐明这两种真理理论之间的区别时，困难之一在于这样一种情况，即在真理是什么或发现真理是什么的问题上从未取得一致意见的不同派别，在表明他们的理论时可能使用“相同”的词语，尽管他们对这些词语的理解是根本对立的。在《反学者论》中，我们可以看到学者和奥古斯丁对一些关键词如uerus、ueritas、uideri等的使用是不同的，但每一方对这些词的使用在每一方都是连贯的。奥古斯丁着重探讨了经院哲学家的或然性概念，特别是它在他们对行动的解释中的作用，并通过分析双方对或然性和真理性的使用，说明他们的真理理论是不同的，经院哲学家的真理理论使我们对行动和施事有了某种机械论的认识。我们可以从这个角度来阅读他后来的哲学著作《忏悔录十》和《三位一体论》，在那里他发展了他的真理和价值理论。

It is characteristic of this study to consider the problems concerining the theory of truth from Augustine's point of view which is, I believe, relly suggestive for modern readers. In his early dialogue Contra Academicos, Augustine refutes the Academics' theory of truth. He puts forward many types of arguments of refutation in this dialogue. And he shows great concern for the problems : (1) what the difference between the tow theories of truth, (i.e. that of Augustine, on the one hand, and that of Academics and of Carneades, on the other) is ; and (2) what the difference means to people who stand on their own theory of truth. One of the difficulties in elucidating the difference between those two theories of truth lies in the situation in which the different parties who never agree on what truth is or what it is to find it may use 'the same' words in showing their theories, though their understandings of those words are radically opposed. In Contra Academicos, we can see that the uses of some crucial words such as uerus, ueritas, uideri etc. of Academics and Augustine are different but that each party's uses of those words are coherent in each party. Augustine focuses on the concept of probabile of the Academics, especially its role in their explanation of action, and analyzing the use of probabile and uerisimile of both sides he shows that their theories of truth are different from each other and that the Academics' theory of truth leads us to have a certain king of mechanical theory of action and agent. We can read his later philosophical works, Confessiones X and De Trinitate VIII-XV, from this point of view, where he develops his theory of truth and value.