Ethics Paper
11/2/2020 Topic: AUGUSTINE BIOGRAPHY AND PHILOSOPHY
https://sjsu.instructure.com/courses/1369231/discussion_topics/3963816 1/5
AUGUSTINE BIOGRAPHY AND PHILOSOPHY
All Sections
Augustine was born in 354 A.D. in Thagaste in North Africa. His mother, Monica, was a devout Christian and his father, Patricius, was a Pagan who converted to Christianity on his deathbed. Augustine's ancestors included Berbers, Latins, and Phoenicians although he considered himself to be Punic.
Augustine's family name, Aurelius, suggests that his father's ancestors were freedmen given full Roman citizenship by the Edict of Caracalla in 212 A.D. Augustine's family had been Roman, from a legal standpoint, for at least a century when he was born. It is assumed that his mother Monica, on the basis of her name, was of Berber origin but, as his family was in an upper class of citizens known as honorable men, Augustine's first language was most likely Latin.
At the age of 11, Augustine was sent to school at Madaurus, a small Numidian city about 19 miles south of Thagaste. There he became familiar with Latin literature, as well as pagan beliefs and practices. His first insight into the nature of sin occurred when he and a number of friends stole fruit from a neighborhood garden. He tells this story in his biography “The Confessions.” He remembers that he did not steal the fruit because he was hungry, but because it was not permitted. "It was foul, and I loved it. I loved my own error—not that for which I erred, but the error itself.." From this incident he concluded that the human person is naturally inclined to sin.
At the age of 17, through the generosity of his fellow citizen Romanianus, Augustine went to Carthage to continue his education in rhetoric. It was while a student at Carthage that he read Cicero's dialogue “Hortensius” (now lost), which he described as leaving a lasting impression on him and sparking his interest in philosophy. Although raised as a Christian Augustine, much to his mother Monica’s despair, eventually left the Church to follow the Manichaean religion. As a youth Augustine lived a hedonistic lifestyle for a time, associating with men who boasted of their sexual exploits. The need to gain acceptance forced boys like Augustine to either seek, or just make up stories about, sexual experiences. And it was during this
11/2/2020 Topic: AUGUSTINE BIOGRAPHY AND PHILOSOPHY
https://sjsu.instructure.com/courses/1369231/discussion_topics/3963816 2/5
period that he uttered his famous prayer: “Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.”
At about the age of 19, Augustine began an affair with a young woman in Carthage. Although his mother wanted him to marry someone of his class, Augustine remained with this woman for fifteen years and she gave birth to his son Adeodatus. In 385, Augustine ended the relationship in order to prepare to marry a Christian heiress.
Augustine was from the beginning a brilliant student, with an eager intellectual curiosity, yet he never mastered Greek. His first Greek teacher was a harsh man who beat his students, and Augustine rebelled and refused to study (Interestingly enough, the now popular word “Pedagogy” comes from the Greek word “Pedagogue” which describes a person who follows students to school and beats them if they do not study. So the practice of this teacher may not have been that far out of the norm!). By the time Augustine realized that he needed to know Greek, it was too late; and he never became eloquent in it. However, his mastery of Latin was superb as he became both an expert in its eloquent use, and in the making of clever arguments to illustrate his points.
This led to him becoming a teacher of rhetoric first at Carthage in 375 A.D. and later at Rome in 384 A.D. However, the students in Carthage were unruly and the tradition in Rome was for the students to pay their tuition on the last day of the course. And, despite Augustine’s great abilities in the subject, many of his students were not inclined to pay so he began to look for a more fruitful employment.
He found it at Milan and entered into a close relationship with its outstanding bishop Ambrose who, as well as being a great rhetorician and orator in his own right, also served as a civic authority in charge of education. Augustine first began to attend Ambrose’s sermons out of a professional curiosity yet soon began to become influenced by his message. This combined with his mother Monica’s presence in Milan, and his interest in the Neoplatonic philosophy of Plotinus, caused Augustine to become drawn back to the Christian faith of his youth.
The year 386 A.D. was an important one for Augustine's intellectual and spiritual development. First, he converted, or perhaps better “reverted”, to Christianity, and then he spent a vacation at Cassiciacum, a rural retreat near Milan, with friends and family. At this time he completed his first great work of ethics “The Happy Life.”
11/2/2020 Topic: AUGUSTINE BIOGRAPHY AND PHILOSOPHY
https://sjsu.instructure.com/courses/1369231/discussion_topics/3963816 3/5
The theme of the discussion in “The Happy Life” is man's desire to be happy. This is, of course, an issue of fundamental importance to any person. For, although men do not think of happiness in all of their actions, most everything we do as human beings is related to the search for happiness. Yet Augustine's study of ethics differs from other systems in that it is not a neutral speculation or cold investigation but rather tends toward the welfare of the common person. In fact, Augustine has been described as the first authentic human person one encounters in history—as the first look into what it really means to be a human being. With his famous quote, “Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet”, being a prime example of the dichotomy of the human condition. And by being the first person in history to reveal this authentic human perspective Augustine begins to show his credentials as being one of history’s great freethinking philosophers.
However, it is not only in his perspective but also in his method that Augustine shows his originality. For “The Happy Life” is molded upon Cicero’s “Hortensius” which was in the form of a classic Greek dialogue. Yet in classic Greek dialogue the participants were almost always educated males but Augustine’s dialogue has a woman, a child, the uneducated, and the educated, all being featured prominently.
Here we are touching upon something quite radical which should not be glossed over. For by including all of these diverse figures in his dialogue Augustine is in fact stating, in the most powerful way possible through his own actions, that philosophy is not just the prerogative of a chosen few but the common good of all irrespective of age, sex, race, or occupation. And it is in this way that Augustine further shows his credentials as a great freethinker and becomes not just a Father of the Church, but the Father of Diversity as well!
And it is not just that a woman and child are present in the dialogue but the fact that their wisdom is featured most prominently in the dialogue that expresses Augustine’s true program. For we see in this way that, for Augustine, diversity is not something which should be practiced simply for its own sake but because the greater the diversity within a group of people the greater the chances that their dialogue will present fine insights. And it is in this way that Augustine’s argument for diversity is still the finest one.
Augustine dealt with many other problems with a great originality of thought not the least of which was the age old problem of evil. This problem is in a sense both a
11/2/2020 Topic: AUGUSTINE BIOGRAPHY AND PHILOSOPHY
https://sjsu.instructure.com/courses/1369231/discussion_topics/3963816 4/5
theological and an ethical issue. Stated in a simple form it asks, “If God is all good and created the universe than why is there so much evil within it?” And the lives of many men down through the ages have been effected by their ability to either answer, or not answer, this question.
In the sensual days of his youth Augustine had sought an answer to this question in Manichaeism. Manichaeism featured a theology of a good deity and an evil deity coexisting with equal power, with the good deity being associated with the spiritual and the evil deity being associated with the flesh. The basic solution to the problem of evil being to give each deity its due. Thus when one was interested in engaging in the things of the spirit the good deity might be honored and when one was interested in engaging in the things of the flesh the evil deity might be honored. However, as time went by Augustine became increasingly intellectually dissatisfied with this solution.
Augustine’s ultimately satisfying solution to the problem of evil involves both faith and reason. The faith coming through the prayers of his holy mother Monica and by listening to the eloquent sermons of Ambrose, and the reason coming from one of the last great Neoplatonic philosophers Plotinus.
Plotinus was born in Egypt and lived from 205 to 270 A.D. His system of emanations by “The One” is reminiscent of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave in that its symbol for the highest form of truth is the light of the Sun. And just as the light of the Sun shines brightly yet eventually dissipates so do the emanations.
emanations THE ONE emanations ↓ The World Soul ↓ ↓ The Human Soul ↓ ↓ Material Objects ↓ *********(Realm of Shadows)********* *******(Darkness)******* Evil (As a privation of the Good)
As the emanations flow from “The One” they dissipate to the point of becoming so weak that there exists a realm of shadows. And beyond this point darkness (or the place where the emanations are fully dissipated).
11/2/2020 Topic: AUGUSTINE BIOGRAPHY AND PHILOSOPHY
https://sjsu.instructure.com/courses/1369231/discussion_topics/3963816 5/5
Search entries or author
Reply
Although Plotinus was not a Christian his philosophy formed an almost perfect template for the Christian concept that God is all good and that evil exists only in the darkness that is far away from Him (and thus hidden from His goodness). Both systems also feature a way that man can move either up toward the light or down toward the darkness through his own freewill. With focusing on the spiritual aspects of the universe raising one higher and focusing too much on the material aspects of the universe dragging one down.
Therefore, the problem of evil is seen as something that flows from the gift of freewill which man has been given. For if human beings use their freedom to seek what is good, true, and beautiful they can be raised up but if they use their freedom to seek what is base, false, and common they will be dragged down. Thus it is in the poor use, or perhaps better in the poor understanding, of freedom that human kind drags themselves down and brings evil into what was intended to be good.
We have seen that Augustine in his autobiography “Confessions” is the first authentic human being one encounters in history, that in his “The Happy Life” he is a great early champion of diversity, and that in his reading of Plotinus he gives us, through the use of reason, what has become the normative solution to the problem of evil. Truly given all of this, which does not even begin to exhaust his overall contributions, Augustine has more than taken his place among history’s great freethinkers!
Unread Subscribe