https://revistas.uniagustiniana.edu.co/index.php/humanitashodie
The paper deals with the role and limits of teaching in Augustine of Hippo’s dialogue De magistro and the eleventh quaestio of Thomas Aquinas’ Disputed Questions. By exploring the limits of language and communication, Augustine concludes that the teacher does not properly teach, but at most, he reminds the pupil so as he is able to recognize the truth, illuminated by the Inner Teacher. According to Aquinas, instead, the teacher is able to teach in a proper sense, but in doing so, he does nothing but assist the pupil so as he is able to perform, with his own reason, human reason’s very path. Such a path consists in deriving conclusions of science from the principles of human knowledge. Notwithstanding their differences, both reject equating teaching with a mere “transference of knowledge”.