Two loves, two cities: Intellectus and voluntas in Augustine's political thought

Augustine famously writes in De civitate Dei that the two cities are formed by two loves, the love of self and the love of God. How does Augustine understand the philosophical and theological anthropology of love, and how does this anthropology illuminate his understanding of political things? The dissertation takes as its central focus the relation between intellectus and voluntas as the constitutive elements of our animating loves, reading the classic passages from De civitate Dei against earlier and contemporaneous works, including De libero arbitrio, Confessiones, De Genesi ad litteram, De Trinitate, and the early philosophical dialogues. In so doing, the dissertation seeks to render explicit the connection between Augustine's understanding of the philosophy of knowledge and of action and his presentation of a philosophy of law and Christian ethics. Taking as a provisional working definition that Augustine understands love in terms of both form and presence, the dissertation shows how this understanding of love renders previously contested aspects of Augustine's political thought more intelligible.;The first two chapters treat Augustine's understanding of the positive capacities of intellect and will, culminating in attention to the divine, and the imperfection of intellect and will, together with the distraction which results from ignorance and infirmity. In both chapters, attention is paid to how we learn, according to both our created natures and our fallen condition. Chapters three and four detail the ways in which Augustine's philosophical account of intellect and will undergird his reflections on the institutions of law and ecclesiastical authority, including the informal bonds of habit and custom. The final three chapters articulate Augustine's account of the non-institutional forces which form the loves which in turn constitute political and ethical life, though in each case these forces are related to specifically philosophical and theological concerns.