Desiring Education and Educating the Desiring: A Hermeneutic Reading of St Augustine

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St Augustine is well aware that being a human being in the world means to dwell in-between the human and the divine. In his Confessions, he is involved in an intense conversation (soliloquium) with himself while believing that this possibility comes in the form of divine empowerment [Ermächtigung]. The story of his spiritual conversion is structured by “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” (concupiscentia carnis et concupiscentia oculorum et ambitione saeculi). It is a long journey between transforming and transgressing the cupiditas or libido into dilectio or caritas. Augustine works carefully through (Durcharbeiten) his desire to arrive at the place where personal conviction regarding the reason for his restlessness can be resolved, reminding us that as factical beings, we are called to question our own existence in its facticity.

Since desire connects the autobiographical and speculative dimensions of St Augustine’s Confessions, our hermeneutic reading will address the fundamental question of the meaning of human life and desire. Augustine does not undertake his soul search for the sake of self-betterment: “In [tuis] oculis mihi quaestio factus sum – in your eyes I have become a question to myself.” His main task is not to promote an “inquietude” (Beunruhigung) about one’s own Dasein, in order to preserve its original drive to philosophize. It is a call to reawaken the foolishness of the prevalent scientific urge toward the certainty of self-knowledge. He is clear about not understanding himself: “I do not understand all that I am,” ( nec ego ipse capio totum quod sum). By pointing toward his own self-understanding, he admits that his reality transcends him and sends him back to something beyond him. In his existential torment (molestia), he recognizes that a human being is not transparent to him/herself; only God sees everything. This awareness is the source of existential anxiety: “I am terrified of my secrets which your eyes see and mine not” (multum timeo occulta mea, quae norunt oculi tui, mei autem non). As contemporary readers of the Confessions, we wish to address critically the Heideggerian proposal regarding Augustine’s attempted “escape” from this reality. Is Augustine really an existential coward when he admits: “You yourself make it blissful to bless you. You have created us as directed toward you. And our heart is not quiet until it rests in you.” (tu excitas ut laudare te delectet, quia fecisti nos ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te)? Our hermeneutic reading might help us to understand that the experience of truth happens as an experience of interpretation as the way of our being in the world. There is no experience of truth that would not have an interpretative character.

Augustine, The Confessions,

file:///C:/Users/pegaw/Downloads/The%20Confessions%20of%20St.%20Augustine%20by%20Augustine%20(z-lib.org).pdf

Catherine Conybeare, The Routledge Guidebook to Augustine’s Confessions (New York: Routledge, 2016).

Robert R. Edwards, The Flight from Desire (New York: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2006).

Martin Heidegger, The Phenomenology of Religious Life, GA60,

Andrzej Wierciński, Hermeneutics between Philosophy and Theology: The Imperative to Think the Incommensurable (Zurich: LIT, 2010).

Andrzej Wierciński, Existentia Hermeneutica: Understanding as the Mode of Being (Zurich: LIT, 2019).

Andrzej Wierciński, Hermeneutics of Education: Exploring and Experiencing the Unpredictability of Education (Zurich: LIT, 2019).

Learning outcomes

Knowledge:

o the student is familiar with new literature on the literature as indicated in the bibliography

o is familiar with the philosophy of education

o knows the state of research in the hermeneutics of education and is able to design an innovative research project

Skills:

o can identify philosophical aspects of education

o can address the importance of feelings (curiosity, patience, courage, uncertainty, self-esteem) and validates them in the process of learning

o has skills in presenting aspects of philosophical hermeneutics in discussing issues in contemporary education in an international setting

o can effectively communicate with other scholars in hermeneutic philosophy and education

o as a creative and insightful student, shows depth in thinking and in the elaborating of original and novel ideas

Social competences:

o appreciates the need to learn to understand one’s life

o can set measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely goals and ways to achieve them in the context of academic, professional, and social activity

o sees the need for dialogue between different academic disciplines and schools of thought

Assessment criteria:

Students must attend classes, actively participate in discussions, and write a ca. 2500 words research paper. The grade will be based on the paper at 50%. Students should clear their topic with the instructor before writing. The final revised paper is due on Friday, December 24, 2021. Attendance / Active in-class participation (50%). Along with the final paper, students are required to submit a detailed report about their attendance and self-evaluation of their activity in the class.

Students must attend classes, actively participate in discussions, and write a ca. 2500 words research paper. The grade will be based on the paper at 50%. Students should clear their topic with the instructor before writing. The final revised paper is due on Friday, December 24, 2021. Attendance / Active in-class participation (50%). Along with the final paper, students are required to submit a detailed report about their attendance and self-evaluation of their activity in the class.