Augustine Confessions

Saint Augustine is famous for his notion that the nature of human life is to return to God. He writes with God in mind and weaves theology, philosophy and phycology into his writings. He is a pioneer of the field of thought of early phycology and the human will. In his “Confessions” he explores infancy and his early childhood behavior in order to make revelations about the human psyche and the motivations behind certain decisions. In this paper we will discuss and summarize some of Saint Augustine’s major points in his “Confessions” specifically dealing with his observations of early phycology and the observation of the powerful human spirit with our insatiable will to always desire more.
Augustine has an excellent treatment of memory. To
The weakness then of infant limbs, not its will, is its innocence” (Augustine, Book 1, Chapter 7). A baby is only innocent because it is in a weak body, but it has a strong spirit and resolve. For example, if you put the tremendous will that babies possess, into a stronger body, then they would be someone who should be feared. Augustine believes strongly in original sin and it can be seen with the behavior of infants. Original sin can be displayed by greediness and irrational fury, which is seen through a baby’s tantrums. A baby shows immense anger and jealousy even towards its own brother when having to share his mother, “Myself have seen and known even a baby envious; it could not speak, yet it turned pale and looked bitterly on its foster-brother” (Augustine, Book 1, Chapter 7). This behavior is determined to be bad, because if an adult were to display this type of behavior, they would be immediately judged and reprimanded, “For though tolerated now, the very same tempers are utterly intolerable when found in riper years” (Augustine, Book 1, Chapter 7). These behavioral examples in infants prove that the human will is born in all of us and is so strong that it needs to be
He says, “The mind commands the body, and it obeys instantly; the mind commands itself, and is resisted” (Augustine, Book 8, Chapter 9). Augustine thinks that there is an internal battle in all of us because part of us wants to do something and the other does not: “And therefore there are two wills, for that one of them is not entire: and what the one lacketh, the other hath” (Augustine, Book 8, Chapter 9). This struggle leads to humans having an absence of control over their mind. This relates to the earlier selection about the will of infants because as well get older and develop a conscience, the will begins to be more controlled by the