Augustine Flashcards
rousseau view on human nature
o French Philosopher
o Argued humans act generously and act otherwise when circumstances cause them to.
o ‘Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains’
o Purpose of life is to cut free from these chains and rediscover who we are born to be by cooperating with eachother etc.
hobbes view on human nature
o In a ‘state of nature’ man is selfish and brutish.
o We are animal-like, yet still have ability to reason.
o Purpose of life is to conquer animal side.
augustine summary
- One of the early Church fathers lived from 354-430AD.
- Lived in Algeria and worked as a Christian writer and teacher in Africa
- Influenced by Plato.
- Wrote autobiographical writings, which tell us about his life and conversion to Christianity.
augustine manicheanism
o Believed universe is in a cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil, we do bad when the evil forces are winning, we are therefore not responsible for our own moral actions.
o Rejected these ideas when he became a Christian.
augustine neo-platonism
o They believe that humans are able to contemplate the one i.e. God by ascending to different levels of reality from the material world to God.
o The soul and body should work together but the soul cannot control the body and this is the reason for evil and suffering.
o Truth, wisdom and happiness can only be achieved when the soul is separated from all material influences through contemplation.
o Merged ideas of Plato with NT, didn’t believe JC was SofG, purely an enlightened being.
augustine scandalous life
o He ran ‘wild with lust’ in his adolescence, had a concubine and a child with her. Dismissed her when he was married, sex was influential part of life, reflected in his equating sin with lust in his beliefs.
o Lied to his parents and teachers, even stole a pear for the fun of it!!!
plagiarism influence
o Pelagius was a GB monk, taught the salvation of JC = sins forgiven.
o Believed man did not tend towards evil, it is our responsibility to do well and rely on our autonomy and ourselves.
o Should pray and fast to attain salvation without need for God to give it to us through grace.
o Emphasis on autonomy meant he believed Adam’s sin was personal and could not be passed on, no Original Sin and therefore no need for baptism.
o Augustine spent much of his life condemning Pelagius.
genesis view of humanity pre fall
- Augustine agreed with the idea that men and women are both immortal as indicated in Genesis 1:27.
- Didn’t think humanity was immortal; so therefore does not think that sin was reason for human mortality.
- Genesis 1:28 instructs man and woman to ‘increase and multiply’, which Augustine sees as God instructing carnal intercourse, therefore must be mortal.
pre fall - imago dei
• Imago dei means that women were also created with a rational mind, argues ‘man, therefore, before the fall, was good…’
o Viewed men and women as equal in that they both had rational minds.
o However, Eve being made from Adam suggests Adam should rule her as well as be his helpmate.
o She is still the archetype of how God intended women, however.
• States of Adam
pre fall adam original state
- State of righteousness, had the capacity and was responsible to avoid sin and the subsequent spiritual and physical death.
- Man had the capacity to not sin and die.
- ‘Posse non peccare et mori’ - Able to not sin and die
pre fall adam potential state
- If Adam has remained obedient to God then God could have made him forever confirmed in holiness and apart from sin.
- If he had remained sinless, he would have been immortal.
- ‘Non posse peccare et mori’ - Not able to sin and die
pre fall harmony
• Humans enjoyed a state of harmony: body, will and reason all in agreement.
o Will was God-given, could choose to do good or evil.
o Will is synonymous with love, which can pull us in various directions.
• Will is driven by Cupiditas (self-love) and Caritas (generous love).
• Both necessary to love your neighbour, as you must love yourself also which in turn will lead to love of God.
pre fall adam and eve relationship
• Adam and Eve had a sexual relationship as married friends, had potential to produce children. Sex was under full control of the mind, based on love and desire to procreate, with childhood being painless.
o Sex is secondary to friendship, would occur without lust, Adam would be able to summon erection as his will was so in tune with his body.
o Augustine felt true friendship is possible if you love Christ first.
o ‘Adam and Eve were in a state of righteousness or friendship with God. They were also immune to physical illness and death.
stephen duffy pre fall quote
o ‘The body was wholly subject to the soul, carnal desires to reason and will, and the will of God’. (Stephen J Duffy)
change in adam and eve post fall
• Adam and Eve’s disobedience led to the awareness of their sexual bodies; saw they were naked and hid.
• It was their desire for autonomy and power that led to their fall, they wanted to be like God.
• Post-Fall, sexual pleasure and the will came apart. Sexual desire within individuals reminds us of the original sin of mankind.
• Status of Adam and Eve’s relationship changed, man must now dominate his wife and be her master, as the Fall was Eve’s fault.
o It was Satan that placed the idea of disobedience in Eve’s mind, but it was human free will that caused the act of rebellion.
• Adam became enslaved by sin, pitiful and damnable before God.
• They could never again enjoy a harmonious relationship with eachother of God as their cupiditas now separate from their caritas.
post fall concupiscence
• Man now dominated by concupiscence:
o Man no longer able to control his libido, dominates human experience.
o Spontaneous erections, wet dreams and lack of sexual control are evidence of the body mocking the will as if it is an ‘unwanted intruder’.
o Recognised this idea in Romans 7: 15-20 by Paul
• Paul speaks about inner desire to do the right thing, but that he is constantly drawn to do the wrong thing.
• ‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do’.
• ‘It is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me’.
akrasia post fall
o Idea that we do things that we are know are wrong.
o Could potentially support the idea that our will cannot be controlled by our reason.
o Augustine argues the human will is God given ad is synonymous with cupiditas and caritas.
o Fall made our will distorted and motivated by desire rather than good.
o Describes the will in Confessions Book 8 as ‘half-wounded and divided’ as well as ‘at war with itself and unable to obey its own orders’.
socrates view of akrasia
o Socrates argues this does not exist
• When we act we do what gives us pleasure (evaluative hedonism)
• Reason is used to calculate short and long-term happiness; we may choose a painful short term to have a long-term pleasurable result.
aristotle view of akrasia
o Aristotle argues the reason we might do something wrong is because we don’t know all the facts and therefore may act for what we think is the best.
• However… if I am motivated by deeper desires, am I not fully in control? Augustine would argue that this is because our wills are weak.
original sin post fall
o Everyone is born sinful in the post-lapsarian world.
o Adam’s sin is passed on from generation to generation through sexual intercourse.
o ‘Augustine understands humanity to be born with a sinful disposition as part of human nature, with inherent bias towards acts of sinning’ (McGrath)
how is original sin a reflection of augustine’s own experience
- Drew connection between the habit of his sexual activity and the freedom of his will.
- Conversion to Christianity convinced Augustine that he must renounce his life and enter the monastic life. However he found it extremely difficult to give up his involvement in sexual pleasure.
- Described this status as one of ‘moral paralysis’, meaning a lack of freedom brought on by the accumulation of his own wrong choices.
- Interpreted his sexual desire as the point of resistance to the will of God.
- Believed the real conflict was between the two wills: a will to love and serve God as well as a will to love and serve only himself. (Cupiditas vs. caritas).
- Reason for his emphasis on concupiscence. Truly believed that everywhere we look, we can see evidence of the rebellious will, proof of all post-fall sex involving lust, with babies being born with a divided will.
original sin - double death
- First death is caused by Adam’s rebellious will, symbolised by nakedness of Adam and Eve.
- Second death is the mortal state of every human being and is punishment for the first disobedience.
original sin - transmission of sin
- Original act of disobedience transmitted by a ‘chain of disasters’, we all bear Adam’s rebellious nature.
- This excludes Mary, who was conceived without lust.
original sin as cause of lack of free will
o When young, believed humans have free will, followed Platonist view.
o Changed viewpoint as came to believe that the sex drive etc. meant there was no way humans could overcome this punishment.
o Believed we prefer falsehood to truth due to our souls being fettered and chained by sin.
o Used the term ‘liberum arbitrium captivatum’ (the captive free will) to describe the influence of sin on our free will.
o Even believed monks and nuns were not strong to resist concupiscence.
