Augustine's Invention of the Inner Self

Phillip Cary argues that Augustine invented the concept of the self as a private inner space - a space into which one can enter and in which one can find God. Although it has often been suggested that Augustine in some way inaugurated the Western tradition of inwardness, this is the first study to pinpoint what was new about his philosophy of inwardness and situate it within a narrative of his intellectual development and relationship to the Platonist tradition. Cary's fascinating book shows how Augustine's position developed into the more orthodox Augustine we know from his later writings.