Quotation
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“I loved my own undoing. I loved the fault, not that for which I committed the fault.”
Augustine of Hippo · Christian Platonism · Medieval · c. 397–400
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the theft of pears as an example of a will that loves the wrong itself, not the profit, because the fruit was dumped and the thrill was the company of doing what was forbidden. He is analysing motiveless malice, or malice whose motive is the malice. A rival reading thinks a teenage prank is being crushed under too much metaphysics, and that peer pressure, which he also names, is the whole story. The passage insists on both: the gang, and a love of the fault as fault; It is book two, early in the autobiography.
Did Augustine of Hippo really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Henry Chadwick's translation of the pear-theft narrative in Confessions book two. Augustine says the stolen fruit was not wanted for its taste. The Latin is secure. This English is a translation.
Where it comes from
Confessions II.4.9
Approximate date: c. 397–400.
How to use it
A group of sixth-formers in a Bristol car park damages a bike they do not want, and the point of the evening is that the damage was pointless. Augustine's question is whether the pleasure was the company only, or also the taste of crossing a line because it was a line. The example is small on purpose; He thinks the structure shows up in a theft that gained nothing, which makes it harder to hide behind the usual excuses of need.
A mindset reading
The passage is not a claim that every misdemeanour is satanic theatre. It is a refusal to let a pointless wrong be redescribed, after the fact, as if it had been for the fruit. A rival comfort says nobody ever wills bad under the description bad, only under the description fun or status; He thinks the pear night is a case where the description bad was part of the attraction.
Understand the philosophy
Book two's key term is the love of the fault itself, a disordered will that imitates God's freedom by breaking a rule it does not need to break. He also blames the shame of not being shameless among friends, so social pride is in the story. The pears are worthless, which is why they matter. Chadwick's English keeps the admission that he loved his undoing; The scene is a moral psychology, not a charming anecdote.
- ethics
- self
- virtue
FAQ
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the theft of pears as an example of a will that loves the wrong itself, not the profit, because the fruit was dumped and the thrill was the company of doing what was forbidden. He is analysing motiveless malice, or malice whose motive is the malice. A rival reading thinks a teenage prank is being crushed under too much metaphysics, and that peer pressure, which he also names, is the whole story. The passage insists on both: the gang, and a love of the fault as fault; It is book two, early in the autobiography.
Did Augustine of Hippo really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Henry Chadwick's translation of the pear-theft narrative in Confessions book two. Augustine says the stolen fruit was not wanted for its taste. The Latin is secure. This English is a translation.
Which work is it in?
Confessions II.4.9 Approximate date: c. 397–400.