AUGUSTINE'S TRINITARIAN EXAMPLES

How does Augustine think we gain knowledge through the "images" and "analogies" of the Trinity? This article proposes that Augustine thinks of his trinitarian images as very like "models" used in philosophy of science, such that the correct deployment of the model yields immediate non-inferential knowledge. This provides a new way to read Augustine's claims about our knowledge of other minds, for instance, and is the basis for his investigations in the latter half of the De trinitate to provide certain knowledge about God (to the extent such knowledge is possible).