The Teacher, The Discussion of Division (a)

In this initial discussion of divisions, Augustine and Adeodatus argue over how to define those signs that signify things--which they call "signifiables."

The greater point that Augustine imparts is that the thing and the usage of the word is more important than the word itself. In other words the knowledge of the thing is more important than the sign connected to it.

In Augustine's words "the use of words should itself already be preferred to words; words exist so that we may use them. Furthermore, we use them in order to teach. Hence teaching is better than speaking to the same extent that the speaking is better than the words. The teaching is, therefore, that much better than words" (129). As a side note, Augustine seems to be championing an anti-materialist approach to language. I'm intrigued by this, since, much later, Bede (a fan of Augustine, thoug not above criticizing him subtly) in his On Things connects the creation of words to very material circumstances and events.

One who is a slave to the word, in this case, is led astray. The use of words is what must be focused on. This is a point Augustine is going to develop further in De Trinitate, in that he is going to critique a belief in Jesus only, the flesh of Jesus more specifically, as not real faith. Thus, Jesus-as-thing is not where faith lies. One must look beyond the material in order to experience the univocity of the Trinity, which cannot be materially contained (a point I will discuss in future blog posts about De Trinitate).  Augustine wants to unhook the connection between sign and thing and to think about each separately, as well as how each may influence the other or how we may get caught up in understanding the sign only. Knowledge of the signified is preferable to the signs, though not to "knowledge of signs"--this is how Augustine leaves this section: the lesson here is to reinforce the knowledge of things and signs and not necessarily the signs-for-themselves. This dovetails with the beginning of this section in which Augustine asks Adeodatus if he is a "man"--when Adeodatus says "yes," Augustine jumps all over this and corrects him in thinking about how "man" is just a word. Thus knowing about signs would have allowed him to answer more succinctly. Augustine can be accused of trapping Adeodatus in a semantic trap, but his point will be greater in future discussions of distinctions.