O desdobramento da alma em direção ao belo: preleções no Livro sexto do diálogo Sobre a Música de Agostinho de Hipona.

Our investigation aims to propose a brief reflection on Book VI of De musica (387-391) by Agostinho de Hipona. In the light of philosophy, it is intended to submit the main lines of arguments on the unfolding of the soul in its itinerary to God, in analogy to the rhythms and harmonies of musical art. Evidently, the meeting between Hellenistic philosophy and Christianity in the early days of Patristics took place through many resources, but with some acquiescence on the part of Latin Patrology. In this context, the thought of Augustine of Hippo must be considered a reference for the synthesis of Hellenistic philosophy in the Latin tradition. There is no doubt that the Neoplatonic reference was singularly present in Augustine's philosophy, not only as an ingredient of his intellectual and spiritual evolution, culminating in his conversion, but it was also the instrument by which, and exclusively through it, his thought has formed. In fact, it is clear that Augustine's thought is a synthesis of Hellenistic culture incorporated in Latin times, although this characteristic is not duly explicit in some of his works and in the course of his history, requiring a closer and more accurate examination of our interpretations. In the course of reading book VI of De musica we can identify three important aspects: i) At first, Augustine proposes the unfolding of the soul based on the sensations. The path of reflection runs through the education of the senses in order to achieve the perceptual-sensorial transcendentalization, so that, Augustine intends to demonstrate that the movements and rhythms of music are in analogy to the rhythms of the soul driven by a natural desire to contemplate God; ii) In order to carry out this path of soul ascension, Augustine identifies in Neoplatonism the notion of spiritualization as an essential activity of the soul's intimate life, in such a way that the dialogue is impregnated with the Plotinian speculation about the concept of unity, order and being, always related to the notion of God as ineffable; iii) The Augustinian assumption in discovering bodily harmonies in the soul through sensations, sounds and words in analogy to eternal harmony, supports, in a way, his notion of invisible perfection of God as the one who reveals himself to us in created things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]