The Philosophy of Augustine of Hippo: Knowledge, Ontology, and Influence

Posted on Oct 28, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

Greek Schools of Thought

a) Aristotelianism

In the Roman Empire, the Aristotelian synthesis persisted as cultural heritage. (Augustine did not know the writings of Aristotle).

b) Epicureanism

Epicurus’s philosophy cultivated friendship but was closed to women. Key tenets include:

  1. The gods do not deal with human issues because they are perfect.
  2. No need to fear death, for while we live, we do not feel it, and when we’re dead, we do not feel anything.
  3. The wise man should not meddle in politics.
  4. Achieve self-sufficiency and the absence of fear, pain, or worry.
  5. Life’s aim is happiness.
  6. Achieve a calm and balanced mood.

c) Stoicism (Zenon of Citium)

Key ideas of Stoicism:

  1. Seek freedom through political participation.
  2. Achieve happiness through self-sufficiency and self-control.
  3. Accept fate as it comes.

d) Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism encompasses philosophical teachings derived from Plato, including ancient philosophical orientations (except Epicureanism) and mystical-religious ideas (Oriental).

Philo of Alexandria

A leading exponent of Jewish philosophy, Philo’s philosophy was based on allegorical interpretations of the Bible. God is Good. From God comes the Logos (reason). Within the Logos are the Ideas. The Logos built the world using the Ideas.

Plotinus

Everything comes from the One, from which Thought is generated. This raises the Soul of the World, and through a degradation process, material things emerge. Neoplatonism offers two possible explanations: things have been derived from God (emanation) or have arisen from nothing (creation). To reach the One (happiness) is to go through several stages, liberating oneself from the material world.

The Thought of Augustine of Hippo

Anthropology

God made man in his image, consisting of an immortal soul and a mortal body (but the soul is a priority). The soul is joined to the body, encouraging, caring for, and guiding it. Because of the soul, matter becomes living and informed. Grace (God’s help) impels man to attain a higher knowledge of God. Man is sinful due to the misuse of free will. Because of original sin, the body is subjected to the soul, highlighting the conflict between body and soul. Man must strive towards the good (which is God) to be happy. Man can do wrong without help, but needs God’s help to do good. Thanks to grace, man regains the freedom lost by sin. Augustine addresses two types of problems: physical hazards (e.g., earthquakes) and moral issues (e.g., crime). He believes corruptibility is not inherently bad: things that can break down are good because everything God created is good. All things that exist are good, but not perfectly good.

Theory of Knowledge (Faith and Reason)

Happiness is achieved by possessing absolute truth (God). Only the wise man is happy because he knows the truth. To achieve this, reason and faith must work together. The search for truth is a spiritual journey. The search must be active; one has to find truth to be happy. It seeks knowledge, faith, and love. Other philosophies that do not integrate faith and reason lack religious concerns: fideism (blind belief in something incomprehensible), agnosticism (God is inexplicable through reason), and deism (God is the creator but is not involved in the world). Augustine’s goal is to reach Christian truth with the help of faith and reason:

  1. Reason helps man achieve faith.
  2. Faith guides and illuminates the work of reason.
  3. Reason helps clarify the contents of faith.

Augustine distinguishes three levels of knowledge: sensible, rational, and contemplation:

Sense knowledge: The soul knows objects through the body. Using sense knowledge alone, truth is unattainable because truth comes from the knowledge of immutable objects, which reside within the soul.

Rational knowledge: Reason judges the senses. When the rational soul knows immutable truths, it grasps absolute truth.

Contemplation: Contemplation involves seeing eternal ideas through wisdom. Through contemplation, the soul attains knowledge and truth.

According to Augustine, sensations are individual (e.g., experiencing beauty), but universal truths are common; these are the goals of science and wisdom. We cannot know unchanging truth unless a light illuminates us. This light, which illuminates reason, comes from God and makes the eternal ideas of intelligence visible. Reason is mutable and cannot grasp immutable truths on its own. Therefore, we need God’s illumination to understand what surpasses our intelligence. The human being possesses two things within:

  • If the senses are mutable, the immutable must be sought in the soul.
  • God enlightens human beings to know the truth.

Ontology: The Absolute and Mutable Bodies

God is demonstrated in the believing soul, which would be impossible if God did not exist. Proof of God’s existence is a consequence of the theory of knowledge:

  • Epistemological argument: As truth exists and is based on God, God exists.
  • Cosmological argument: God created the world.
  • Eternal ideas exist beyond our intelligence, so they were created by God.

Mutable bodies are not real beings; only that which remains unchanged holds true being. Creation was gradual, and things come forth when copies appear according to the cosmic order established by God. God’s creation of the world was voluntary.