Augustine Flashcards
Thomas Hobbes on human nature
Humans are selfish, and only work together for convenience and to survive.
“The life of man; solitary, poor, brutish and short”
Rosseau on human nature
Humans are inherently good and unselfish, but civilization and society have constrained us.
“Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains”
Immanuel Kant on human nature
Humans are unable to live strictly according to heir good will, as we wish to establish our own higher existence.
Foucault on human nature.
Humans are selfish, due to societal rules and norms that we follow. We conform to those in power.
Marx on human nature
Humans conform to the group they belong to in society, making them a product of their own environment.
Pinker’s humanitarian principle
Humans get on better when each person takes others interests into account - as this is respecting individuals ability to reason. This means God’s grace is not required to be saved from sin, only reason.
Niebuhr on sin
Sin enables us to realise that no action can be wholly good - which therefore reduces injustice and suffering . The modern rejection of sin has destroyed the human sense of responsibility.
Pelagius on original sin
People could try to live morally pure lives if they tried hard enough. Just because Adam set a bad example, doesn’t mean that humanity has to imitate this.
Will
The part of human nature which makes free choices.
Sin
Disobeying the will and commands of God.
Grace
God’s free and undeserved love for humanity, emphasised in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
The Fall
The biblical event in which Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command, also used to refer to the imperfect state of humanity.
Neoplatonism
Philosophical thinking arising from the ideas of Plato.
Cupiditas
‘selfish love’, a love of worldly things and of selfish desires.
Caritas
‘generous love’, a love of others and of the virtues.
Concupiscence
Uncontrollable desire for physical pleasures and material things.
Summum Bonum
The highest, most supreme good.
Takeaways from the Manichees
- Peoples souls are in a constant battle of good and evil.
- Escape from wrongdoing could be found by following the example of role models, such as Jesus.
- REJECTED as he discovered that evil is not a substance, it is a turning away from good.
Augustines takeaways from Neoplatonism
- People should treat their own characters in the same way sculptures treat their statues, by recognising what needs altering and fixing.
- Through this Augustine no longer sae evil as a substance, but as a turning away from goodness.
Genesis quote from The Fall to suggest that humanity is corrupted.
“Cursed is the ground because of you”
Augustines idea of humanity before The Fall
- Adam and Eve in a loving friendship, friends together and with God - Concordia.
- In the image of God, so a ‘state of perfection’.
- Enjoyment of a sexual relationship ‘be fruitful and multiply’ NOT LUSTFUL!
Paul in Romans 7
“It is no longer I who does it, but the sin living within me”
BUT confusion around whether this was before or after his conversion to Christianity.
Augustines perspective on society before the fall
In City of God, he expressed the Biblical view that people are to rule over other species, but not each other. Instead of leaders there were Shepards, who guided.
This was ruined due to The Fall where people are subject to the rules of others eg slavery.
For Augustine, what is the only thing that can save humanity from hell?
God’s grace.
God elects even the undeserving to go to heaven, but some people could reconcile with Him through their own efforts.
summum Bonum can only be achieved through God’s grace.
