Augustine

Question 1

Thomas Hobbes on human nature

Answer 1

Humans are selfish, and only work together for convenience and to survive.

“The life of man; solitary, poor, brutish and short”

Question 2

Rosseau on human nature

Answer 2

Humans are inherently good and unselfish, but civilization and society have constrained us.

“Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains”

Question 3

Immanuel Kant on human nature

Answer 3

Humans are unable to live strictly according to heir good will, as we wish to establish our own higher existence.

Question 4

Foucault on human nature.

Answer 4

Humans are selfish, due to societal rules and norms that we follow. We conform to those in power.

Question 5

Marx on human nature

Answer 5

Humans conform to the group they belong to in society, making them a product of their own environment.

Question 6

Pinker’s humanitarian principle

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Niebuhr on sin

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Pelagius on original sin

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Will

Answer 9

The part of human nature which makes free choices.

Question 10

Sin

Answer 10

Disobeying the will and commands of God.

Question 11

Grace

Answer 11

God’s free and undeserved love for humanity, emphasised in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Question 12

The Fall

Answer 12

The biblical event in which Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command, also used to refer to the imperfect state of humanity.

Question 13

Neoplatonism

Answer 13

Philosophical thinking arising from the ideas of Plato.

Question 14

Cupiditas

Answer 14

‘selfish love’, a love of worldly things and of selfish desires.

Question 15

Caritas

Answer 15

‘generous love’, a love of others and of the virtues.

Question 16

Concupiscence

Answer 16

Uncontrollable desire for physical pleasures and material things.

Question 17

Summum Bonum

Answer 17

The highest, most supreme good.

Question 18

Takeaways from the Manichees

Answer 18

• 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.

Question 19

Augustines takeaways from Neoplatonism

Answer 19

• 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.

Question 20

Genesis quote from The Fall to suggest that humanity is corrupted.

Answer 20

“Cursed is the ground because of you”

Question 21

Augustines idea of humanity before The Fall

Answer 21

• 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!

Question 22

Paul in Romans 7

Answer 22

“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.

Question 23

Augustines perspective on society before the fall

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

For Augustine, what is the only thing that can save humanity from hell?

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Quote for God’s election

Answer 25

“God works for the good of those who love him”

Question 26

Hick’s view on salvation

Answer 26

It is necessary for everyone to go to heaven if God is omnibenevolent

Question 27

Augustine on sex

Answer 27

“I was bound down by this disease of the flesh”

Question 28

Criticism on Augustines literal interpretation of The Fall

Answer 28

Genetic diversity shows that it’s not possible for all of humanity to have come from just two people. So, there was no Adam and Eve. Human nature can’t be cursed because of their actions when they are just fictional characters.

Question 29

CK Chesterson on original sin

Answer 29

You can see original sin ‘in the street’.

Question 30

Pinker on sin

Answer 30

Studied the history of violence and showed it has declined in modern society. Proves that original sin cannot exist, because if we really had an irresistible temptation to sin, we could not have morally improved.

Question 31

Freud on sin

Answer 31

Socialisation forces us to feel frustrated over repressing our instincts to the point where rebelling against social control can feel good in itself.