St. Augustine on Signs

Abstract

M ANY of the topics of Augustinian theology and philosophy in which the notion of 'signs' is central have received a good deal of attention. This is true, above all, of Augustine's sacramental theology. His definition of sacramentum in terms of signum became classical. His definition of signum is rarely mentioned by later writers except in the context of sacramental theology; nevertheless, the notion plays an important part in other contexts. Chief among these is Augustine's discussion of the meanings of Scripture 2, but the concept enters into such diverse fields of his interests as his theory of language, his discussion of miracles, of the relation of the world to God, and of man's way of acquiring knowledge, not least knowledge of himself. Notwithstanding the focal interest of the notions of sign and of meaning in Augustine's thought, they have, so far as I know, not received treatment as such. This essay is, therefore, an attempt to disentangle what Augustine thought about signs, in particular, about words, and meaning. At the risk of ascribing to him preoccupations which he would scarcely have recognisedl, no attempt is made here to (leal with any of the applications made by Augustine of the notion. A survey of the relevant background of discussion, here as in general 3, serves to throw into relief the originality of Augustine's contribution. From Aristotle onwards, the theme of 'signs' recurs regularly in Greek philosophy; indeed, Philodemus in his de Signis and Sextus Empiricus suggest that the question of signs was one of the focal points of the StoicEpicurean debate.4 The broad terms of reference for the debate had