What was augustine philosophy

First, however, Augustine sets about demolishing the sceptic who asserts that no knowledge at all is possible. He points to a range of things we clearly know to be true, which the sceptic cannot possibly deny. He is not aiming to use these known truths as the axiomatic foundation of the rest of knowledge, rather, if any of the examples are admitted as known truths, then knowledge is possible, and the absolute sceptic refuted. I can know infallibly what seems to be the case; it is my judgement, which goes beyond what seems to be the case, which introduces the possibility of falsehoods.

We know that we exist, that we are alive, and that we understand these facts. Augustine points out that even if our experience is really a dream, we nevertheless still know we were alive. We are also conscious that we will certain things. These bulwarks against scepticism are in one way or another derived from introspection independently of the errors of the senses.

Augustine does not dismiss the senses as wholly deceptive. From the fact that we can sometimes err in our sense-based judgements for example if we judge that a stick which appears bent in the water really is bent , and can on any particular occasion err, it does not follow that the senses cannot ever support true beliefs. That the sens es deliver truths less certain than those of mathematics does not mean the sens es do not deliver truths at all.

However, Augustine supports the Platonic view that the lack of certainty and the relativity of judgement the same thing can appear different to different people that beset the senses make the objects of sense not suitable objects for true knowledge or knowledge proper.

The true objects of knowledge-the truths we can know with greatest certainty-are truths that are universal, necessary, and eternal ; this is the highest form of knowledge, and sensory knowledge the lowest. This means that these eternal truths have to be found within the mind independently of sensory experience. The problem arises of how eternal truths and our knowledge of eternal truths are to be accounted for. The sensible world does not provide us with the required immutable concepts and truths; the human mind or soul, although immortal , is also temporal and mutable.

Augustine agrees with Plato that , just as transient truths are accounted for by the mutable objects of the sensible world, so universal necessary eternal truths are accounted for by their being truths about eternal and immutable real objects.

Moreover, these eternal objects, and the truths concerning the relations of the concepts of these objects, are independent of the human mind; they are truths that we discover, which we cannot alter, and which are thereby objective and common to all capable of reasoning. Such objectsimmaterial impersonal essences-referred to by Plato as Forms, are identified by Augustine as ideas in the eternal, immutable mind of God-they are the content of the divine mind. Such divine ideas provide both truly objective fixed concepts and necessary truths by being the objects of necessary judgements.

Augustine, like Plato, ha s no facility to account for the necessity of some truths which does not involve realism, requiring there to be eternal objects to which those truths correspond; he is unable to account for such necessary truths merely on the basis of the logical relations between concepts, but thinks that such truths require eternal objects which the eternal truths are true of eternally.

Such necessary truths are available to us in the areas of mathematics and geometry, but they are also possible in moral and aesthetic judgements. The divine ideas provide perfect objects for the concepts of number and geometrical forms; they also provide objective standards for moral judgements concerning good and evil, and aesthetic judgements concerning what is, or is not, beautiful. We do not find perfect unity in our experience we always find things with parts which are thereby both one and many ; we do not find absolute goodness or evil or perfect beauty in our experience.

All three of these kinds of teaching are to be done in what Augustine called the restrained style. This style requires the teacher not to overload the student with too much material, but to stay on one theme at a time, to reveal to the student what is hidden from him, to solve difficulties, and to anticipate other questions that might arise. Teachers also should be able from time to time to speak in what he called the mixed style —using elaborate yet well-balanced phrases and rhythms—for the purpose of delighting their students and attracting them to the beauty of the material.

Teachers should also be able to speak in the grand style, which aims at moving students to action. What makes the grand style unique is not its verbal elaborations, but the fact that it comes from the heart—from emotion and passion—thus moving students to obey God and use his creation to arrive at full enjoyment of God.

This hoped-for response is wholly consistent with what is probably the most famous quotation from Augustine's autobiography, The Confessions: "You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you" b, p. Of the two great traditions in liberal education, the oratorical and the philosophical, Augustine is distinctly an orator.

He believed more in imparting the truth to students than in supporting the individual student's quest for truth. He used the dialogical mode as one who knows the truth, unlike the Greek philosopher Socrates, who used dialogue as one who does not know anything. He thus established a Christian philosophy, which has influenced scholars and educators throughout the history of the West.

Augustine directly influenced the Roman statesman and writer Cassiodorus and the Spanish prelate and scholar Isidore of Seville who, in the sixth and seventh centuries, established the seven liberal arts as a way of enriching the study of the Scriptures. The Anglo-Saxon scholar and headmaster Alcuin, in the eighth century, used Augustine's works on Christian teaching as textbooks. The Italian philosopher and religious leader Thomas Aquinas's attempt in the thirteenth century at synthesizing Aristotle and Christian faith may be understood as an extension of the work of Augustine, as can the Christian humanism of the Dutch scholar Erasmus in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

In the first decade of the new millennium, Augustine's use of psychological autobiography speaks directly to those educators who view introspection and empathy as critical features in the life of a teacher.

His awareness of the centrality of personal and political struggle in human existence, and of the educative and healing power of human dialogue still speaks to the condition of many teachers and educators. The First Catechetical Instruction , trans.

Joseph P. Westminster, MD: Newman Press. The Teacher , trans. Robert P. On Christian Teaching , trans. New York: Oxford University Press.

His father wasn't Christian, and took pride in his son's precocious erection. So Augustine started life somewhat conflicted. Related Resources Augustine of Hippo.

The City of God. Bonner, Gerald Fitzgerald, Allan D. Augustinian Studies. Hunter, David G. Kenney, John Peter Augustine: Life and Works. An online group of introductory and critical essays on St. Augustine: A New Biography. Radical Academy Feminist Interpretations of Augustine.

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