Module 1 Discussion Response - Early European Philosophy
Revroney,
I really enjoyed reading your discussion post. It focused on Augustine’s viewpoint on the
ultimate purpose of education. He believed that the ultimate purpose of education is to turn
toward God. This is viewed as the ultimate salvation when it comes to the teachings of
Christianity (Galindo, 2022). There are some things that must be done in order to complete the
purpose. One thing is that you must seek and discover the truth about God. With that being said,
you have to lean into your teachings in the Bible. The scriptures are meant to teach lessons
through different stories in the Bible. Another tool is that you must recognize the Bible as the
reference that is used to identify universal truths. The teachings in the Bible help to guide our
moral compass and to establish our values that are used when making life decisions. With that
being said, it is important that the individual grows a closer relationship to God. There are times
when people experience obstacles and begin to lose faith on God. This is not the time to fold
because you lack understanding. Instead, it is the time lean even deeper into the teachings
outlined in the Bible. According to Augustine, he believed the it is a requirement that people
prepare themselves for eternal life (Thomas, 2022). His teachings referenced the idea that we are
linked to the future in some kind of way. In order to understand these links, he stressed the
importance of disciplines like math, science, and logical thinking skills.
Reference
Galindo, Israel. (2022, May 24). “Augustine of Hippo and Six educational principles”. Columbia
Theological Seminary. Retrieved from URL https://www.ctsnet.edu/augustine-of-hippo-
and-six-educational-principles/
Thomas, Erik. (2022). “A Qualitative Analysis of Augustine’s Philosophy of Education”.
Southeastern University. Retrieved from URL
https://firescholars.seu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=coe
Kai,
I enjoyed reading your post. I see that this question stood out to us both because we wrote
our discussion on the same topic. Sophists adopted the concept that “man is the measure of all
things”. Initially, I interpreted this differently until I conducted some research on the matter. This
concept goes against the ideas of universal truth, right or wrong, and traditional values
(Ukwamedua, 2023). The reason is because Sophists believe that these things can differ
depending on the person that is experiencing these things. For example, someone may view
certain acts as being the right option to choose. On the other hand, another person can view your
decision and suggest that the decision that you made was wrong. We are taught that there is a
clear right and wrong when it comes to things that are happening in our lives. In addition, we
tend to use the Bible to justify what we label as universal truths, morals, and values. Sophists are
the complete opposite because they feel that there are too many factors that can affect the way
that humans think and process information. Therefore, Sophists believe that since we all think
differently, there could not possibly be one set truth to anything. For example, there is a saying
that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This means that the person that is viewing the thing,
person, or place is able to choose whether or not they find something to be beautiful. The next
person may not agree with the same items look to them. This is because our eyes attract different
things. We see this in the different styles of clothing that we all wear, the different foods that we
eat, and the various accessories that we wear.
Reference
Ukwamedua, N. U. (2023). The humanocentrism of protagoras, postmodernism and the
constraints of existential anarchism.Cogito,15(1), 47-58.
