Perception, Dreaming and Levels of Consciousness in Augustine’s "De Genesi ad litteram" XII

The specific goal of the article is to examine a particularly relevant section of book XII (xx, 42), in order to show how Augustine, through a complex interweaving of philosophical arguments and medical doctrines, conceives of the distinction and the interaction between mind and body. The following topics, in particular, are discussed: the difference between sensation and conscious perception, the reflective self-consciousness during sleep, the temporary alienation of the mind from bodily senses during the ecstatic state, the role of the intentio and the operations of the cogitatio.