PHILOSOPHY - Augustine Flashcards
Question: What characterized the Roman belief system and their approach to happiness?
Answer: The Romans believed in earthly happiness and maintained an optimistic outlook on life.
Question: How did the Romans practice self-help, and what did they emphasize for personal success?
Answer: The Romans were keen practitioners of self-help, training people for greater success and effectiveness, particularly by promoting the development of the perfect human through self-reflection.
Question: What were the Roman values regarding ambition, intelligence, and justice in their society?
Answer: The Romans valued ambition, intelligence, and justice, and they believed that people of ambition and intelligence could rise to the top. They considered their society to be marked by justice.
Question: What were Augustine’s disagreements with the Roman ideas of human perfection and societal justice?
Answer: Augustine strongly disagreed with the idea of human life being perfected and believed that human societies were inherently unjust.
Question: What concept did Augustine introduce, and how did he explain the nature of humans?
Answer: Augustine introduced the concept of original sin, suggesting that all humans were crooked as heirs to the sins of Adam, leading to the desire to dominate and cruelty in our interactions.
Question: How did Augustine’s philosophy provide relief for understanding the imperfections in life?
Answer: Augustine’s philosophy offers relief by attributing life’s challenges to human nature rather than coincidence, reducing the pressure to achieve perfection.
Question: What was Augustine’s perspective on wealth, power, and virtue, and how did he view money?
Answer: Augustine believed that money could not accurately measure virtue and that God did not necessarily reward good people with power and wealth or condemn those with nothing.
Question: How did Augustine’s philosophy influence his stance on judging others and his approach to moralism?
Answer: Augustine’s philosophy discouraged judging others based on outward markers of success and promoted an absence of moralism and snobbery.
