Man, Morality, and the City of God: Augustine’s Philosophy
Man and the Moral Problem of Evil: Freedom
The human being is conceived as a Platonic-style soul inhabiting a body, which serves as a temporary dwelling. Created by God from the souls of the parents, the soul is superior to the body, simple, and immortal. The true self should aspire to unite with God to achieve true happiness and participate in the highest good. This union requires virtue and love for absolute truth. However, due to the consequences of original sin, man has a natural inclination toward evil. Perfect happiness is attainable for the blessed in the afterlife, through the beatific vision of God.
God has endowed man with free will, enabling him to make choices. When man chooses poorly, moral evil (sin) arises, for which he alone is responsible. To counter man’s natural inclination toward evil, God provides grace, which encourages good. However, neither nature nor grace determines human decisions. Consequently, neither moral evil nor ontological evil are attributable to God, who is wholly good. Evil is not an essence but a privation or lack of good, an unavoidable consequence of free will.
True freedom entails consistently choosing good over evil. In reality, man cannot will absolute evil, as it doesn’t exist. Due to weakness, indecision, or ignorance, man may choose earthly or bodily goods instead of seeking higher, divine goods. Only God’s grace can guide man toward right choices; free will alone is insufficient for virtue.
Philosophy of History: The Two Cities
Human history reveals a constant struggle between those who love God above themselves and those who love themselves above God. This is metaphorically represented as the City of God (heaven) and the City of Man (earthly realm). History is a product of both human free will and a divine plan, as God guides his creation. It reflects the ongoing struggle between these two cities, culminating in the triumph of the City of God.
Augustine’s Philosophy: The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
According to Augustine, both reason and faith are essential for Christian understanding. He advocates for the integration of faith and reason: “Understand to believe, believe to understand.” Reason should serve faith, as humans require divine illumination to find wisdom.
Theory of Knowledge (Epistemology)
Augustine’s epistemology leans towards rationalism, influenced by Platonism. Sensory knowledge is unstable and unreliable, not constituting true knowledge. Truth must be universal, immutable, and necessary, attainable only through intellectual knowledge. He accepts innate knowledge but, for religious reasons, rejects Plato’s theory of reminiscence. These innate, true ideas originate from an eternal, immutable source: God. God illuminates man from within, prompting introspection. True knowledge leads man beyond himself, toward God, the divine intelligence whose ideas are the archetypal forms of all things. Without divine illumination, grasping truth is impossible. Thus, seeking wisdom and truth is synonymous with seeking God, uniting philosophy and theology.
God and the World
The eternal, immutable truths within humans prove the existence of an equally eternal and immutable God. God, the ultimate Good, illuminates all, reflecting Platonic influence. God is desired by all and desires all. The world was created by God from nothing, based on eternal archetypes (ideas) within God’s intelligence. This act of creation was singular and timeless, as God transcends temporal changes. The created world, being derived from a good God, is inherently good. Created beings imitate God’s perfection but cannot fully share it, explaining the existence of ontological evil. This doesn’t imply God’s culpability for evil or the existence of an evil being. Evil is defined as the absence of good, with perfect good belonging solely to God.