The Relation between Self and Political Power in St. Augustine’s Thought
Subject Areas : Research in Theoritical Politics
mohamad ali
tavana
1
(دانشگاه شیراز گروه علوم سیاسی دانشکده حقوق و علوم سیاسی)
Keywords: Augustine self political power confessions The City of God,
Abstract :
St Augustine’s Confessions is the first autobiography in western literature. It introduced first- person point of view to western thought. First- person point of view is an initiation to the concept of ‘self’. The City of God is the only work of St Augustine’s to episodically include his political philosophy, and therefore a good reference to understand his views on the subject. The present article is to examine the relation between ‘self’ and ‘political power’ in St Agustin’s thought, employing an intertextual approach. In doing so, we will start by discussing the process of formation of ‘self’ in his thought. Then will refer to the ontological and epistemological origins of political power in The City of God. At the end, it is shown that the sense of ‘self’ has an instrumental approach to ‘political power’.