St. Augustine I: Theory Of Knowledge

Question 1

How does St. Augustine regard the problem of certainty

Answer 1

Not whether we can or not reach certainty, but how. How to know eternal truth as eternal

Question 2

How does St. Augustine refute skepticism

And concerning the errors of senses?

Answer 2

Even skeptics cannot avoid certain truth such as the principle of non contradiction. One certainly knows about doubting

Senses give us what they perceive, we are the ones deceived by making wrong judgments.

Question 3

How can one be sure of experiential knowledge

Answer 3

One at least knows his own existence by the fact that he is doubting. Si fallor, sum

He exists, he lives and he understands, known by inner consciousness

Question 4

What is the nature of sensation to St. Augustine

Answer 4

They are at the lowest level of knowledge. Anima per corpus. Due to mutability

It is common to man and beast

Question 5

How does he understand the divine ideas

Answer 5

They are inside the Divine Mind, but they do not emanate from it.

Question 6

How does he understand the Illumination

Answer 6

1. How do we know eternal truth if the material world that we perceive is constantly changing?
2. Immutable truths cannot be known unless by illumination
3. God as the intelligible Light, because He is the Eternal One. AS corporeal eyes see the corporeal things through corporeal light, the incorporeal eye (intellect) sees the inutile truth through incorporeal Light.
4. We cannot see the Light directly

Question 7

How would Thomas Aquinas regard the Illumination

Answer 7

The theory of abstraction is a process of judgement, no supernatural light is necessary

Question 8

How does St. Augustine regard knowledge and beatitude

Answer 8

True Wisdom is the one that brings us ultimate happiness, which is the eternal union with God. The actual possession of true knowledge