The Memory of Passions in Augustine's Confessions

Abstract

In Saint Augustine’s Confessions, the memory of passions is a concept formed by the memory and passion, powers (vis) that are encountered in the person’s interiority. To comprehend it, it is necessary to precisely determine how memory and passion work inside the Confessions: both in isolation and in union. In the first case, that is going to be done through descriptions that are present in the work, with focus on Book X; while, in the second case, the metaphor of memory as the stomach of the mind is going to be investigated. It is intended to show the relevance of the discussion in the search of God’s itinerary, which is understood as identical to the truth, the goodness, the unity and the Being. In other words, we are going to stress that the aim of studying the memory of passions is, therefore, to understand how memory and passions interact in the search for what transcends them. In this sense, the finality of the memory of passions is actualized insofar as it helps out in the search for God, through its way of functioning. Thus, the contribution of the memory of passions is not only to keep the notions of the passions, but also to forwent their taste, so that the person needs not experience them again for taking away her/his growth, that is, her/his personal transformation.