...Aquinas and Augustine Essay Individuals have their personal view of human nature and the ability to know “the good” and do “the good.” Augustine and Aquinas have their philosophy on human nature and the ability to know “the good” and do “the good.” Human nature is how we perceive the life of a human being and the characteristics that” make up” an individual. The ability to do well and know good depends on the individual and the goodness of God. Thomas Aquinas was one of the most important world Christian theologians that lived in the middle ages. He created his philosophy of human nature. Within his perception of human nature, he considered the true perception of human nature. In Aquinas’s Summa Theologian, he expresses what it’s like to be human or the essential features. Based on his views he used characters of human being to define humans. Character exist in all human beings. According to Aquinas, to be a human being has physical and mental unit factors. This means that to be human there must be a body and soul. A human is not made up of more of each factor, it is equally united to form a human being based on Aquinas perception. Soul is considered to be the principle of life in a human being. All humans have a soul and a body but none are alike. Although some of them are similar. Before Aquinas made his perception of human nature, he took in consideration Aristotelian conception of souls. This means that Aquinas considers a soul to be “the first principle of life in...
Words: 858 - Pages: 4
...Platonism St. Augustine is one of the towering figures of medieval philosophy. Augustine had a huge influence on the modern period with people including Descartes and Malebranche. One of the main focal points in his life comes in 387 AD, when his conversion to Christianity takes place. In Augustine’s conversion to Christianity, he evolved a different approach to thinking. When Augustine writes about the Manicheans, he tends to focus on their materialism, substantive dualism, and their identification of the human soul as a particle of the Light. These three key qualifications from Platonism provide Augustine with a philosophical framework for both the medieval and modern periods. In the Confessions, Augustine gives his most extensive discussion of the books of the Platonists. In the Confessions, he makes clear that his previous thinking was dominated by common- sense materialism. It was the books of the Platonists that first made it possible for him to conceive the possibility of a non-physical substance. It did provide him however with a non- Manichean solution to the problem of the origin of evil. In addition, the books of the Platonists provided him with a framework where he plotted the human condition. According to Augustine the framework for Platonists can account for the difficulties with which life brings about to us, in the same aspect it offers a theory that the highest ethical goal is happiness and personal well- being. In this account, Augustine is talking about...
Words: 1321 - Pages: 6
...paper of Confessions Augustine outlines his sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity in Confessions, which is almost the earliest autobiography with deeply philosophical and theological thinking. He gives accounts of his faults to God genuinely and praises God with authenticity, along which he takes the chance to think about the origin of sins. In Book I, he narrates his observation on a little baby to explain that even very young children have the tendency of being selfish, when “he could not yet speak and, pale with jealousy and bitterness, glared at his brother sharing his mother’s milk.” It seems that the tendency towards self over others is rooted within our instinct. However, the selfishness during childhood is unthinking and is usually tolerated by people because “with coming of age it will pass away.” That is, when human enter early adolescence, they gradually gain the ability to understand what’s right or wrong and to ponder sin like adults do. While, it’s quite interesting that Augustine uses his story of stealing pears with peers to illustrate the fact that even if when human beings have clear knowledge of wrongdoing, they may still have those sinful behaviors possibly for some satisfactions. He states in Confessions: “wickedness filled me,” and “my desire was to enjoy not what I sought by stealing but merely the excitement of thieving and the doing of what was wrong.” (Book II) This thought by Augustine indicates that not only sin...
Words: 671 - Pages: 3
...Chapter IV. Doctrine of Knowledge Problems of Epistemology The first philosophical problem confronted by Augustine after his conversion was the problem of knowledge in a twofold perspective. * Whether we know the truth. * How we know the truth. The first response to the first problem is a severe critique of skepticism. His response to the second problem is the doctrine of illumination, which substituted the platonic doctrine of the reminiscence and which the Aristotelian doctrine of abstraction. A. CRITIQUE OF SCEPTICISM: MAN KNOWS TRUTH * Augustine shows that man can know the truths with firmness, such as his principle of non contradiction and of course his own existence. No one can doubt his own existence, because the doubt itself is the proof of existence. Meaning how a person will doubt something that doesn’t exist, everything that is doubted it is existing. When one doubted something meaning he doubts an existing object. * “I am most certain” St. Augustine states, “of my being, knowing and loving; nor do I fear the arguments against these truths of the academics, who say, ‘and what you deceive yourself ‘if I deceive myself that means that I am, I exist. Certainly he who does not exist cannot deceive himself; if I deceive myself then through this very fact I am. Since I exist, from the moment in which I deceive myself, how can I deceive myself about my being when I am certain that I am, through the fact itself that I deceive myself? Therefore...
Words: 2273 - Pages: 10
...Augustine of Hippo, around 410 AD, created a work to explain to us why earth will never be able to live up to the heavens. He sets up two cities, an earthly city, modeled after Rome, and a heavenly city. In the earthly city, the people are always uneasy even though they have achieved much. “The rich man is anxious with fears, pining with discontent, burning with covetousness, never secure, always, panting from the perpetual strife of his enemies, adding to his patrimony indeed by these miseries to an immense degree, and by these additions also heaping up most bitter cares.”(362) In the heavenly city though the people have little, they have peace and family. “That other man of moderate wealth is contented with a small and compact estate, most...
Words: 1001 - Pages: 5
...Aside from the physical problems Saint Augustine can influence common people from, he also can relate with the question and the doubting God. In Confessions Book Seven, III Augustine says: But I asked further: “Who made me? Was it not my God, who is not only Good but Goodness itself? What root reason is there for my willing evil and failing to will good, which would make it just for me to be punished? Who was it that set and ingrafted in me this root of bitterness, since I was wholly made by my most loving God? Asking questions such as these, questions that are high level of understanding but still common enough for most people to ask, make Saint Augustine incredibly easy to connect to. People that have something or someone to connect to are...
Words: 275 - Pages: 2
...doctrines, which have vastly influenced the Christian church for well over a millennium. Thus, for Augustine, a solid philosophical framework forms the basis of theology, which individual experience thence enhances and augments. Augustine's discussion of the Holy Spirit throughout the Confessions clearly demonstrates this intricate interplay. Any analysis of the Holy Spirit in Augustine's works cannot be complete without first embarking on...
Words: 1456 - Pages: 6
...ST. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum Our intention for this trip was to leave on Friday after Thanksgiving. I wanted to take my 1-year-old grandson with us, as he loves to ride the train. Choosing the Ripley’s train tour because I think it is the most convenient to get off and back on when exploring the many stops they have to offer. In addition to the convenience of getting off and on at will, a narrated history lesson is also included free of charge. On Black-Friday, we started our journey although later than originally planned due to traffic congestion of crazed shoppers. Changing our plans according to our delays, we parked at Sugar Mill Train station to embark on our tour. Our narrator like always was very enthusiastic quickly catching all of our attention in the process. I originally anticipated departing to look around the Presbyterian Church. Unfortunately, due to our late start we were all-hungry and decided instead to get off at St. George Street. My grandson really loved the tram ride and was not at all interested in getting off. Luckily, a distraction by a horse and carriage and the mention of ice cream he soon forgot all about the train. After a snack, a little shopping and a lengthy stroll we were ready to finish our train tour. Completing the train tour, we then chose the lighthouse for our next destination instead of the Fort. Upon arrival to the lighthouse, we were soon disappointed when they would not allow my grandson to be carried to the top...
Words: 712 - Pages: 3
...INTRO : Topologists have debated the doctrine of original sin for centuries, but the one who stated it more clearly was Apostle Paul in Romans 5:12 Paul makes it known that sin entered through Adam and then spread to all of humanity. It is based on Paul’s writing that Saint Augustine expanded his theory on the notion of original sin and its relationship with the human free will. This essay will discuss these two views concerning original sin and free will, by first providing a brief description of Augustine of Hippo and his origins. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO : Augustine of Hippo or Saint Augustine ( 354- 430) bishop of Hippo, was one of the most important figures in the development of Christianity.. However this influential person was not born a Christian. As a young man, Augustine pursued a secular career as a teacher of rhetoric and philosophy while living a dissolute lifestyle. For nine years he was a follower of Manichaeism. In Milan he studied Neoplatonism and his conversion to Christianity took place in 386. As a theologian, he was called to write against the many heresies of the period Manichaeanism, Donatism, and Pelagianism, and in so doing he defined the shape of orthodox doctrine. ORIGINAL SIN AND FREE WILL “For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do. this I keep on doing” Roman 7:19 In this quote , Pau shows that mankind can tell the difference between wright and wrong. However, despite our intellect something influences us to...
Words: 596 - Pages: 3
...Augustine vs. Plotinus Augustine began to distance himself from Manicheism soon after he moved toRome, which he had been interested in since he was a teenager, in 372. As he went through a difficult period in his life, which contributed to his increasingly disinterest with Manicheism, the Academics, the disciples of Arcesilaus and the New Academy briefly engaged him with the skeptical view. This viewpoint was that everything was a matter of doubt and asserted that we can know nothing for certain. The main argument within this essay is to ask whether Augustine, from previously being tempted by skepticism, managed to overcome this through his writing, and whether his dismissal of skepticism holds up as a major criticism for others. After his conversion, he wrote Contra Academicos 386-387, focused mainly on arguments against skepticism and the ability to have knowledge. His ultimate victory over the attraction of skepticism he expressed within this, and laid claim that we can ultimately possess knowledge. In the Contra Academicos Augustine writes of wisdom leading to happiness, and knowledge of truth to wisdom. The version of skepticism that Augustine takes from Cicero’s Academic books is that adopted by Cicero himself. The skepticism Augustine concerns himself is the form it took in the Platonic ‘New’ Academy from the middle of the third century, to which the key figure was Arcesilaus in the earliest stages, to the middle of the first century where Carneades came to prominence...
Words: 665 - Pages: 3
...1.2.1.2 Augustine (born 354) Augustine believes in the superiority of the human soul. He places the human soul higher than material creation. For Augustine, “the human soul is the glory of the world and rightful lord of the irrational creation” (Osborn 37). This understanding marks the human soul as prominent and makes it as the primary focus at the expense of all other creation. Also, in his City of Joy, Augustine talks about the ongoing struggle between the two cities–the city of God and the city of man or the “temporal city” (4) where at the end, the victory of the struggle is won by the city of God. For Augustine, the concern of Christians should be on the City of God which is more spiritual than the earthly reality. The consequence of...
Words: 1461 - Pages: 6
...The Confessions of Saint Augustine St. Augustine main conflict was accepting God in his life. He struggle to acknowledge that God has possessed him. His father was a pagan, but his mother was such a devoted Christian woman; she dedicated her life to pray for the conversion of her son. St. Augustine was a teacher and during his youth days he encounters conflicts with Christian morality. He questioned himself many time “who am I” and “who are men?” he was a sinner and lived a very disorderly life. For example, as a child he was not baptized, he was not initiated in the Christian formation and he became afraid to sin after receiving the sacrament. This kept enriching his Manichean beliefs, he was “seduced and he seduced others, deceived and deceiving by various desires” and his doubts about encountering the truth kept increasing. He was too proud, too full of vanities, he had affairs with many women, and even had a son, but he realizes that his vision that happiness cannot be found in worldly pleasures but in the search for truth beyond the material world. “My heart was made dark by sorrow, and whatever I looked upon was death” he refers to the death of his closes friend whom he had perverted, and whose death he felt and wept bitterly. He became very desperate, confused and mad because he...
Words: 451 - Pages: 2
...In book 19, chapter five, Augustine begins his discussion questioning the idea that “the life of the wise man must be social” (19.5). After this quick mention the wise man falls off the page and the focus of Augustine’s discussion shifts. It shifts to a talk about how human life is full of “slights, suspicions, quarrels, war, all of which are undoubted evils” (19.5). The only time human life is free of these evils is during peace, but for Augustine “peace is a doubtful good” (19.5). He makes this claim because during times of peace we spend time not with our declared enemies, instead dealing with our friends. Augustine’s claim from here is the friends may actually bring more evil than enemies because the content of their heart shifts day to day and one cannot take necessary precautions against a secret enemy. Because Augustine opens his discussion with talk of the wise man and...
Words: 501 - Pages: 3
...Saint Augustine, also know us Saint Augustine of Hippo, Aurelius Augustinus. he was in Thagaste , Souk Ahras, Algeria Nov. 13, 354, Tagaste , died Aug. 28, 430, Hippo Regius, feast day August 28, bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430, . The father of St. Augustine was a pagan who converted on his death bed and his mother was Saint Monica, a devout Christian. St. Augustine received a Christian upbringing and in 370 went to the University at Carthage to study rhetoric with a view to becoming a lawyer. St. Augustine gave up to be lawyer and to devote himself to literary pursuits and gradually abandoned his Christian faith ,he taking a mistress with whom he lived fifteen years and who bore him a son, Adeodatus, in 372 and afteran investigating...
Words: 438 - Pages: 2
...Evil, Christianity, and Saint Augustine Sammy Hoag Philosophy 202 Dr. Ryan Murphy December 2015 What is evil? This ‘problem of evil’ and the existence of evil have plagued the minds of people throughout the centuries. It has been one on the most sought after inquiries and one of the most vexing challenges to Christianity, in explaining the existence of God. Many philosophers and thinkers, both secular and Christian, have endeavored to solve this problem. One of the most notable of whom is Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430). He is perhaps one of the most influential philosophers in the history of the Christian Church. Augustine spent much of his life trying to solve this ‘problem of evil’ and it proved to be quite an undertaking. This paper will explore the problem of evil and argue how Saint Augustine solidified the ways in which philosophy and religion, specifically Christianity, coincide through his work on the concepts of the problem of and the origin of evil. Understanding the problem of evil is essential to everyone because it affects the manner in which life is lived. Whether defending a belief in God or trying to share those beliefs with others everyone will encounter the problem of evil at some point. According to Ed Miller and Jon Jensen, authors of Questions that Matter:...
Words: 2315 - Pages: 10
