BMCR 2009.02.49, Emmanuel Bermon, La signification et l'enseignement

Emmanuel Bermon (ed.), La signification et l'enseignement: Texte latin,
traduction franc,aise et commentaire du de magistro de saint Augustin.
Textes et traditions, 15.  Paris:  Vrin, 2007.  Pp. 610.  ISBN
9782711619511.  EUR 55.00 (pb).

Reviewed by Vincent Hunink, Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands)
([email protected])
Word count:  445 words
-------------------------------
To read a print-formatted version of this review, see
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2009/2009-02-49.html
To comment on this review, see
http://www.bmcreview.org/2009/02/20090249.html
-------------------------------

Augustine is of course best known for his major works, such as the
Confessions and the City of God, and there is no shortage of recent
studies on these books. Matters are somewhat different concerning some
of Augustine's minor works, many of which still wait for helpful and
accessible tools for students.

An example of such a text is De magistro (On the master), a
philosophical dialogue dating from around 390 AD. In this intriguing
text, Augustine explores the essence of teaching, mostly by discussing
the nature of language (the basic means of communication between
teacher and pupil), and of 'signs' in general. It is argued, among
other things, that words taken by themselves cannot teach anything, and
that the truth in the meaning of words is living within people.
Augustine would not be Augustine if this truth were not identified with
Christ. In the end, the inner truth that is Christ appears to be
essential for good teaching.

Although Christian religion is the framework for all of Augustine's
writings, De magistro is predominantly philosophical and is mainly
concerned with words and language, which makes it a relevant text for
students and scholars with interest in linguistics.

Secondly, the text is remarkable as a dialogue between Augustine
himself and his young son Adeodatus. It has often even been considered
a verbatim transcription of a real conversation, which took place
between late 397 and middle 389, when Adeodatus was about sixteen years
of age.[[1]]

The newly published study by Emmanuel Bermon is a reworked 'dossier
d'habilitation' presented at the University Michel de Montaigne -
Bordeaux in 2005. After a 50-page introduction, it offers readers a
Latin text with facing French translation; the text has been reproduced
from the edition by K.D. Daur in the Corpus Christianorum (Series
Latina vol 29, Turnhout 1970). The rest of the book, some 500 pages, is
taken up with the commentary. It takes the rather unusual form of a
running text discussing the text paragraph to paragraph, but without
lemmas.

Thus, the commentary is clearly not intended for readers looking for
grammatical help, cultural information or rhetorical and literary
analysis. Berton rather focuses on the philosophical dimensions of the
work. He analyses and discusses the text both within the context of
ancient approaches of language (such as ancient grammar or Stoic
semantics), and from a modern perspective, using Wittgenstein's
Recherches philosophiques as a model. The De magistro, while being
called 'chef-d'oeuvre de l' antiquite/ sur le langage' (p.547),
inevitably shows some marked differences from a modern approach such as
Wittgenstein's. An ample bibliography and indices conclude the volume.
It will be most relevant for personal and institutional libraries of
ancient philosophy.


------------------
Notes:


1.  The biographical information about Adeodatus is entirely to be
drawn from Augustine's works and it is regrettably scarce indeed. The
De magistro may be said to be the source in which Adeodatus figures
most prominently. Except for a longer monologue by Augustine (c. 33-46,
likely to be part of a subsequent revision of the text) he remains an
active partner in the dialogue until the end. The boy seems
sharp-witted, gentle, and eager to learn, a son of whom Augustine is
noticeably proud. Possibly, Augustine wrote and published the work as a
tribute to Adeodatus, who died young at an unspecified date. Bermon
gives the essential data about Adeodatus in his introduction, but in
the commentary, he is not concerned with his biography.