St. Augustine’s Philosophy: Free Will, Knowledge, and the Two Cities
The problem of free will arises for St. Augustine in relation to Manichaeism, which removed the responsibility of man, then started from the existence of a good start and a villain who will compete for the human soul. St. Augustine differentiates between free will and freedom: the first gives it to man to make God responsible for his actions, the second, only when it works well enough, that is, rationally. Believing that God has made us free means believing that God exists. But Augustine is not enough faith, but reason must also be involved in understanding the truth, because reason and faith are not incompatible: faith is responsible for directing our intelligence in the search for truth, and the reason we can understand the contents of faith, which revives and support from our intelligence.
Knowledge, Truth, and Enlightenment
The Augustinian theory of knowledge and truth is driven by love, but not an inordinate love, but by spiritual love (charity), which seeks to rise to the only truth, unchanging and eternal. This love is comparable to a weight or a fire, by which the soul tends toward God. The Augustinian theory of knowledge being sensitive variable ends in skepticism, until we find an indubitable truth, which can only be found in inner certainty provided by the self, then, if the subject is cheating, no doubt exists. Inside the man, then, lies the truth. From there it has undertaken a spiritual ascent, passing through discursive knowledge (lower right) and intuitive knowledge of eternal truths (upper right), that man can not achieve without the direct action that God exercises over his mind, enlighten intellectually.
God’s Existence and the Problem of Evil
Based on the eternal truths, Augustine demonstrates the existence of God: these immutable truths can not create humans, is imperfect, but must be based on an eternal being, which can not be other than God, the highest good. God creates the world out of nothing, taking as models to be beings who are the ideas in his mind (copies), but as the creatures included in the composition of matter always have some imperfection. The establishment also is not instantaneous, but contains the seminal reasons of all beings, which are displayed in the time that Providence has.
The existence of evil is not a valid argument against the existence of God, as physical evil is the privation of good, typical of any creature, well, evil has to be understood in the context of the entire universe, which exists as a counterpoint to the well. As for the moral evil is the responsibility of man, whom God has given free will so you can choose between good (virtue) and wrong (sin) and well worth the reward or punishment for their actions.
The Soul, Virtue, and the State
Man is composed of soul and body. The soul passes from father to son (Traducianism) and transmitted original sin, for this reason, the soul needs God’s grace, God’s help to love virtue, to be saved. Virtue leads man to respect the order established by God in the universe, the only way to achieve peace, the tranquility of order which is guaranteed by justice and law.
St. Augustine believes that policy for the state to fulfill its true role, you must join the church and establish a mutually beneficial influence, they seek divine interests and not the earthly. The state continues the positive law, established by the authority and the church, natural law, which states the doctrine cristina. According to St. Augustine the source of authority is in God, whatever form it takes. Each village is governed differently according to the plans of God. Therefore, it is God who justifies the power, and the church can invest the rulers as divine representatives on earth.
The Two Cities: A Clash of Love
The difference between selfishness and virtue gives way to the Augustinian interpretation of history based on the confrontation between two Cities: The City of God (Jerusalem) formed around spiritual love and the earthly city (Babylon), built around love and disordered material. Pro although throughout history walk both cities mixed divine providence has provided for the victory on the day of Judgement of the heavenly city on earth and the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the damned.