St. Augustine Accepts Platonic Concept

764 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The confessions of st augustine truth

St. Augustine was a Christian Platonist. He Christianizes many of Plato’s Greek concepts. In Confessions, St. Augustine used many Neo-plationic terms and ideas but in Book VII is when he finally has a revelation about the similarities of Philosophy and Christianity. In class, we have discussed a number of ways in which St. Augustine accepts the ideas of Plato; one of those being the theory of forms. Plato’s theory of forms describes the divine to be in the invisible, perfect, intangible world. St. Augustine believed that Plato’s theory of the forms was compatible with his Christian beliefs because of a vision he had while trying to picture God.
We are introduced to the Forms in Plato’s dialogue the Phaedo. The Theory of Forms says that there are two distinct levels of existence: the visible world of sights and sounds that we live in and the intelligible world of Forms that stands superior to the visible world and gives it being. For example, Plato says that in as well as being able to identify a beautiful person or a beautiful object, we also have a general conception of what Beauty is itself, and that we are able to know the beauty in a person or an object only because we have this conception of Beauty in the Form. We know that things are beautiful because it participates in the Form of Beauty. In Plato’s words, “if there is anything beautiful besides the Beautiful itself, it is beautiful for no other reason than that it shares in that Beautiful.” This Form of Beauty is invisible, eternal, and unchanging, unlike the things in the visible world that change and lose their beauty. The Theory of Forms envisions a whole world of things such as these, a world that exists outside of time and space. This is where Beauty, Justice, Coura...

... middle of paper ...

...is “world of being” is perfect. The world of being through Augustine point of view would be where God dwells and where his presence is. St. Augustine might say that in his presence there is no evil. It is intangible, invisible but without a doubt it exists. He also believes as described in book VII, that evil comes from separation from God .He might also disagree that you absolutely cannot enter into the existence until you die, because he’s experienced this when he had his vision. As a Christian he believes in being in the presence of God and this could be a perfect and unchanging presence. Although he might say to stay in the place forever is to be in heaven with God and with Jesus where everything is perfect. Overall, St. Augustine agrees with the platonic concept of there being two existences. He just might describe them differently being that he is a Christian.

Show More
Related

  • Saint Augustine’s Confessions Outline

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    This paper will outline specific points in Saint Augustine’s Confessions that highlight religious views following the fall of Rome. Though Augustines views on religion may not reflect that of most people in his time period, it still gives valuable insight into how many, namely Neoplatonists,, viewed God and his teachings.

    Read More

  • The Theodicies of Augustine and Boethius

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Augustine's Confessions, the early church father puts forth a complex theodicy in which he declares evil to be nonexistent. Such a leap may seem to be illogical, but this idea stems from the understanding of what is substance and what is not. According to Augustine, the duality of good and evil is false, because anything that is good is substance and what humans think of as evil is simply the absence of the good (Confessions, 126). Vices for example, are just the display of the absence of the good. Pride is the absence of humility, unrighteous anger the absence of temperance, and so on. This idea is evident as he writes that the ability to be corrupted is what makes something good, not i...

    Read More

  • Addressing the Problem of Evil in On Free Choice of the Will by Augustine

    1832 Words  | 4 Pages

    In “On Free Choice of the Will”, Augustine indicates the importance of his beliefs and opinions of human nature and of God. He thinks as greatly of God as possible and centralizes his thoughts of goodness with the concept of being/form (God); he also gives a description of how God’s rightness can be interpreted clearly through the evil doings of the world. One of the biggest and most difficult problems facing people is the problem of doing evil. If God is being, unchanging, eternal and all-powerful, then how is it that people do evil? Augustine tries to solve the problem by examining the “source of evil” and “what evil is”. He explores the ways in which to live a happy life and an evil-free life by having a perfectly ordered soul—a life willed by the virtues—through free will. In the pursuit to find out how it is that evil exists, Augustine explores how people sin with inordinate desire as the driving force and free will. He lists the things we need to possess in order to sin and to live a happy life—goods of the will and temporal goods—that is, one cannot sin without temporal goods, inordinate desire, and free will. In the same way, one cannot live a happy life without goods of the will and free will.

    Read More

  • Origin of Evil in The Confessions by Augustine

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Confessions, Augustine wrote about his struggle with understanding how evil exists in a world created by God. He questioned how it was possible and why God allows evil in his creations because God is supremely good. After delving into finding a solution, Augustine concluded that evil does not exist, and the things deemed as evil are caused by free will. This paper will argue that Augustine has successfully proven that evil does not exist by explaining his earlier explanation of the origin of evil taught by the Manicheans, explaining Augustine’s teachings, and finally, using the textual descriptions of Augustine’s unwillingness to convert as support for his conclusion.

    Read More

  • St Augustine And Manicheanism

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    Augustine’s Confessions is a biographic of the life of St. Augustine. The biopic chronicles the life of Augustine as he tries to navigate his way through life and find his path as it relates to the Christian faith. Augustine discusses many of his struggles and issues while on the path to find himself and his place in God. One of the main issues he covers in his biopic are the struggles had with reconciling the existence of evil with the goodness of God. He struggled with this issue in particular due to his participation in the belief of Manicheanism. Manicheanism is a heretical version of Christianity, that was first introduced by the self-proclaimed prophet Mani. Augustine claims he fell victim to this belief system when he was at a vulnerable point in his journey and was seeking answers for certain question he has pertaining to faith. He fell into Manicheanism when he tried to look at the scriptures himself and interrupt them but to a rhetoric like himself the scriptures made no sense at the time, so he turned from them and to the well-worded faith of Manicheanism. Augustine considers that decision one of the biggest mistakes of his life, attributing his great difficulties in reconciling the existence of evil with God’s goodness to his belief in Manicheanism. In this paper I aim to explore the reason behind why Augustine felt his belief in Manicheanism was such a grave mistake. I also hope to explain how he tried to reconcile his issues concerning evil and God’s goodness, and if he was successful in this attempt. In order to do this we must first look deeper at Manicheanism to examine what the core values and beliefs of the faith are, so that we can understand why Augustine had such a hard time dealing with the issue of evil and...

    Read More

  • Four Arguments For The World Of Life In Plato's Phaedo

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    He argues that non-physical forms or ideas represent the most accurate reality. There exists a fundamental opposition between in the world like the object as a concrete, sensible object and the idea or concept of the objects. Forms are typically universal concepts. The world of appearance corresponds to the body. The world of truth corresponds with the soul. According to Plato, for any conceivable thing or property there is a corresponding Form, a perfect example of that or property is a tree, house, mountain, man, woman, Table and Chair, would all be examples of existing abstract perfect Ideas. Plato says that true and reliable knowledge rests only with those who can comprehend the true reality behind the world of everyday experience. In order to perceive the world of the Forms, individuals must undergo a difficult

    Read More

  • Saint Augustine's Journey: Understanding Evil and God

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    The majority of people experience numerous events that change the course of their life. Saint Augustine, a prominent figure in the Catholic Church, experienced this event when he converted to Christianity. The process of converting, however, was a long, confusing process. A philosophical man, Augustine made sure to think hard about something before committing to it; as a result, he had a plethora of religious questions, with the majority revolving around God. Several of these questions pertain to evil and the role God has with it.

    Read More

  • Conceptions of the Soul

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Plato (in Phaedo) and Aristotle (in De Anima) present two fundamentally different conceptions of the soul. Through an analysis of their frameworks and genre, and whether their methods are plausible, it can be concluded that Aristotle's formulation of the soul is more compelling than that of Plato.

    Read More

  • On Free Choice of the Will

    1445 Words  | 3 Pages

    It therefore appears evident that God must be the root of all evil, as He created all things. However, Augustine delves deeper in search for a true answer. This paper will follow ...

    Read More

  • St. Augustine as the True Heir of Plato

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aristotle and St. Augustine have both been influenced by Plato. Their philosophy on morality, politics, and the purpose of life has been platonically influenced. St. Augustine is the true heir of Plato because he has taken Plato’s ideal state, and revealed the implications of the lives that the citizens of the earthly city lead, in the City of God. Plato’s state is an ideal state, that would not function in reality. St. Augustine has taken Plato’s notions, and have furthered the implications of living a life that strives towards a common good. The consequences, whether negative or positive, cannot be seen in the earthly state, but can be seen in the City of God.

    Read More

  • Augustine and The Problem of Evil

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the beginning, God created the world. He created the earth, air, stars, trees and mortal animals, heaven above, the angels, every spiritual being. God looked at these things and said that they were good. However, if all that God created was good, from where does un-good come? How did evil creep into the universal picture? In Book VII of his Confessions, St. Augustine reflects on the existence of evil and the theological problem it poses. For evil to exist, the Creator God must have granted it existence. This fundamentally contradicts the Christian confession that God is Good. Logically, this leads one to conclude evil does not exist in a created sense. Augustine arrives at the conclusion that evil itself is not a formal thing, but the result of corruption away from the Supreme Good. (Augustine, Confessions 7.12.1.) This shift in understanding offers a solution to the problem of evil, but is not fully defended within Augustine’s text. This essay will illustrate how Augustine’s solution might stand up to other arguments within the context of Christian theology.

    Read More

  • Plotinus, Augustine, Aquinas, K.Wojtyla on Person and Ego

    3219 Words  | 7 Pages

    A common interpretation of Plato's theory of human reality is to identify it with "soul." It has been for some a problem as to whether or not Plotinus adhered to his master's position on this point. H. J. Blumenthal initiated much discussion when he asked: "Did Plotinus believe in Ideas of Individuals?" (1) Supported by apparently contradictory texts Blumenthal concluded that Plotinus did believe at times in such ideas, and at other times did not. One way that commentators take in s...

    Read More

  • Interpreting The Matrix through Descartes’s Philosophy

    2044 Words  | 5 Pages

    Another significant difference between Plato and Descartes is Descartes’s emphasis on the personal aspect of what is believed to be ‘real’; no exploration into this subject has focused so intently on the individual’s perception of reality. Descartes Meditations focus on his own experience of reality, not the experience of humanity as a whole. In his First Meditation, Descartes uses doubt as a means of putting all of his personal beliefs through intense scruti...

    Read More

  • Does Perfection Exist?: Plato´s Theory of Forms

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Plato, his Theory of Forms states perfection only lives in the realm of thought. There only exists one of every ideal and the rest is just a copy. This one creation is called a form, the most flawless representation of an idea. In the physical world everything is a copy of these forms and all copies are imperfect. Plato believed in two worlds; the intelligible world and the illusionistic world. The intelligible world is where everything is unchanging and eternal. We can only grasp the intelligible world with our mind. It is the world of ideas and not senses. A place where there are perfect forms of the things we know on Earth. According to Plato everything in the world we live in is an illusion. All objects are only shadows of their true forms. His theory further states every group of objects that have the same defying properties must have an ideal form. For example, in the class of wine glasses there must be one in particular that is the ideal wine glass. All others would fall under this ideal form.

    Read More

  • Theory of Ideas

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    Finally, the theory of Ideas reaches new height in the Sophists. The theory of Ideas in this work is a new concept because he redefines and extends it. The Sophist presents that there are hierarchy of Ideas and the whole complex of Ideas in defining the meaning of Sophistry. There are five categories of the sophist: motion and rest, sameness, difference, being, and non-being. Plato uses logos to define the meaning of each of the categories in which the being is dynamic and there is relationship among them which unity is important.

    Read More

More about St. Augustine Accepts Platonic Concept

Open Document