Augustine's Theory of Signs, Signification, and Lying / / Remo Gramigna.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Ebook Package English 2020
• VerfasserIn: Gramigna, Remo,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter, , [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Religion and Reason : Theory in the Study of Religion , 60
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (XVI, 230 p.)

The aim of this study is to present, as far as possible, a general description of the theory of the sign and signification in Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), with a view to its evaluation and implications for the study of semiotics. Accurate studies for subject, discipline, and significance have not yet given an organic and systematic vision of Augustine’s theory of the sign. The underlying aspiration is that such an endeavour will prove to be beneficial to the scholars of Augustine’s thought as well as to those with a keen interest in the history of semiotics. The study uses Augustine’s own accounts to investigate and interpret the philosophical problem of the sign. The focus lies on the first decade of Augustine’s literary production. The De dialectica, is taken as the terminus ad quo of the study, and the De doctrina christiana is the terminus ad quem. The selected texts show an explicit engagement with poignant discussion on the nature and structure of the sign, the variety of signs and their uses. Although Augustine’s intention never was to establish a theory of meaning as an independent field of study, he largely employed a theory of signs. Thus, Augustine’s approach to signs is intrinsically meaningful.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- List of figures/List of tables -- Introduction -- 1. Words as signs in the De Dialectica -- 2. On the conditions and possibilities of knowing: philosophy of semiosis in Augustine’s De magistro -- 3. Of ‘things’ and ‘signs’ in Augustine’s De Doctrina christiana -- 4. Mala fide communication: deception, misleading, and lying -- 5. Image, likeness, and falsity: from Soliloquia to De Trinitate -- Conclusions -- Bibliography -- List of persons