Philosophy- St. Augustine

Seite 1

ST. AUGUSTINE

·

Birth

354

·

A

pastor/preacher

·

Writings

are geared to help the people in his audience be able to understand

·

UNDERSTANDING OF GOD:

o

Not

completely Christian

o

Believes

in spoiling the Egyptians

§ Doesn’t know true object of his pursuit

(in Christianity)

o

First

to introduce faith into philosophy:

§ Reason is only part of the journey.

§ Reason will only get you so far, you

also need faith.

§ Faith is a belief in a god who has

revealed himself

§ Faith and reason complement each

other-both necessary

·

SENSES:

o

Give

you a degree of knowledge (lowest degree of knowledge)

o

Not

simply appearances

o

Reliable

but limited

o

For

everything we come to know, it creates a soul-ish image that we know

o

Every

time we think of it, we judge the characteristics or categories of it

o

Categories

= eternal things

o

Anything

good and beautiful can reflect us to God – Same with order = Wants to see how it leads us to God

o

Points

us to general truth = points us to God

·

DOCTRINE OF ILLUMINATION:

o

Augustine-

§ Doesn’t want to rely on this.

§ Even knowing the ability to know is

something we rely on God for

§ Believes that knowledge is made

possible by God

§ Believes that all things are

illuminated for us by God

o

Plato-

§ We know because when we were immortal

souls

§ When we fell, we forgot that

knowledge

§ We can find that knowledge

§ How can we know? Ideas had to be

birthed out

o

Aristotle-

§ How can we know? Particulars lead to

actuals

*God is that which we are trying to

know

·

THE GOOD LIFE:

o

Knowing

God

o

Finding

oneself in the presence-peace- of God

o

Seek

the face of God

·

BELIEVES ABOUT GOD:

o

Existence:

§ Our existence

· Dependent on him

· Because of His existence

· Changing-temporal

§ God’s existence

· Eternal—we don’t have the words to

describe because no one has experienced it

· Not encased/bound by his creation

o

Time

nor space

· Infinite

o

What

we can know about God

§ Taking what God has given us, we can

know things about God

§ Knowing God is not just a knowledge

of God

§ The more we know about God, the more

we participate in God’s nature

o

The

Dance (Salvation):

§ Three-person dance (Trinity in Love)

and Jesus asks you to dance with them

§ Participating in that love

o

Not

the intellect that needs dominance, but the will

§ Purify will that will guide reason to

it’s object

§ Will = love

§ We will always love/have love

§ We have a love within us that craves

an object that is infinite/boundless

· When this love is attached to

something shallow(thing/person), it will only be filled for a short time

· Anything we love reflects something

on us—fills some need

· Only one thing that will fully fill that

love—God

*This thought opens up the pure will

for all people

·

LOVE:

o

We

love God

o

We

learn to love through God

o

God

is the only thing that we fully love for himself

§ Love of people

· only through God

· love from a reference to God

§

H.W:

Initial test

- Posted

online – Exam Questions

- two

paragraphs

- Due

Thursday (Hard Copy)

PIP

IDEA:

Photography

-

Look for inspirational art

-

Representational Art

-

Using a philosophical idea and portraying

it in the arts