English Vocabulary for Students: Essential Terms
Essential English Vocabulary
- Unit 6
General Vocabulary
Saint Augustine’s Theory of Knowledge and Divine Illumination
Wisdom and Enlightenment
The Philosophy of Saint Augustine
In Saint Augustine’s philosophy, as in Platonism and Neoplatonism, knowledge is a form of religious purification. The superiority of the intelligible world, the subject of true knowledge, requires the liberation of the soul from the body. Once released, and since truth is God, the soul will necessarily be directed to Him as the only object that can bring happiness.
Inspired by Platonic doctrines, Saint Augustine distinguishes three levels of
Read MoreConjunctions, Propositions, and Argumentative Texts
Understanding Conjunctions and Propositions
A conjunction is a grammatical category that is used to join two or more units together. Conjunctions are crucial for creating compound sentences with relative pronouns, which are what we call links. A proposition is each of the sentences that are linked by means of a link and form a complex sentence.
There are three main types of compound sentences:
- Coordinated: These sentences have no syntactic dependency relations between the propositions that form them.
Saint Thomas Aquinas: Life, Philosophy, and Scholasticism
Saint Thomas Aquinas: Life and Times
Saint Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225 in the castle of Roccasecca, near Naples. He was a descendant of the Counts of Aquino and Chieti. At the time, intellectual activity was centered around monasteries, particularly in areas related to literature, science, and philosophy. Thomas was educated at a Benedictine monastery until the age of 14. These monasteries were extraordinary centers of cultural outreach, reproducing important works and creating different schools.
Read MoreHuman Rights: History, Violations, and Women’s Rights
Human Rights
Iusnaturalism
Iusnaturalism is the legal doctrine that interprets the law based on the existence of natural rights. Iusnaturalists defend the existence of a natural right prior to any positive law, constituted by principles of justice required by human nature, and preceding any rights issued by a legislative power.
Characteristics of Natural Law
- Immutable: Contrary to positive law, the rules of natural law are not variable. While authorities change and states enact new laws or repeal earlier
Understanding Freedom and Moral Choices in Life
Understanding Freedom and Moral Choices
To be free is to be able to choose. Sometimes we think of utility, of the pleasant, of good and wrong. We are making moral choices. Moral choices refer to the way we guide our lives and live with others. They refer to moral values such as dignity, justice, and solidarity. Sometimes we experience the value clearly, sometimes the counter-value, that is to say, the negative or harmful.
What Does it Mean to Be Free?
Freedom has a double meaning:
- External Freedom: