Augustine on Human Nature
- Created by: Emma
- Created on: 29-03-14 15:24
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- Human Nature
- The Paradox
- Between people who have ruled wisely and generously, and murderers for example
- People with optimistic view say humans only behave badly due to poor education or psychological deprivation
- Others say humans are egocentric and violent as these are required for survival
- Thomas Hobbes
- The natural state of humans is 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short'
- Only through the power of reason can we agree by making contracts not to kill or steal but to create civilised communities
- Pessimistic view of human nature
- Without adult reason, children become murderous savages, survival of the strongest
- Still suppose we can be better than base instincts
- Driven by animal desires but can make rational decisions, sympathise and co-operate with each other
- Tension between these characteristics determine human nature
- Pessimistic view of human nature
- William Golding 'Lord of the Flies'
- Without adult reason, children become murderous savages, survival of the strongest
- Weakness of Will
- Akrasia
- I think I know what is in my best interest yet do something different which turns out not to be for the best
- Therefore, can we not control our will through reason or do we always will for the best but unconsciously?
- I think I know what is in my best interest yet do something different which turns out not to be for the best
- Plato's Protagoras, Socrates says there's no such thing as Akrasia
- Akrasia
- I think I know what is in my best interest yet do something different which turns out not to be for the best
- Therefore, can we not control our will through reason or do we always will for the best but unconsciously?
- I think I know what is in my best interest yet do something different which turns out not to be for the best
- We do what really, deep down, gives us pleasure. Evaluative hedonism
- People choose pleasure over alternatives, reason calculates short and long-term happiness
- Supports psychological hedonism - people will always act for most happiness
- Aristotle's variation
- We don't know all the facts so might act in what we think is best way, but due to ignorance it turns out not to be for the best
- Aristotle's variation
- Akrasia
- Motivated by deeper desires means not fully in control?
- If reason indicates what I choose is not my best interests, am I making a genuine free choice?
- Our wills are weak and we cannot always control them
- For Christians, weakness of will is a universal condition of being human
- Our wills are weak and we cannot always control them
- If reason indicates what I choose is not my best interests, am I making a genuine free choice?
- Augustine concluded through life experiences and reflection on St Paul's letters that weakness of will is the defining characteristic of human nature
- Paradox is not just that we are weak willed but the weakness of will is the reason for Jesus Christ
- Augustine
- Before the Fall
- Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked
- Until the Fall, humans lived in harmony expressed in complete obedience of Adam and Eve to God and in duties to other creatures
- Human will, body and reason in complete co-operation
- Until the Fall, humans lived in harmony expressed in complete obedience of Adam and Eve to God and in duties to other creatures
- The Will as Love
- Will is God-given
- Created ex-nihilo with humans
- Can choose good or evil and determines kind of people we are
- Created ex-nihilo with humans
- Will is synonymous with love
- If driven by cupiditas it diminishes us as humans
- If driven by caritas it completes us as humans when we will our neighbours good by expressing the divine love of God for his creation
- Will is God-given
- Sex and Friendship
- Adam and Eve were married in paradise as friends and participated equally and mutually in the friendliness of God
- Theologians of the time argued marriage occurred after the Fall to control lust
- 'Be fruitful and multiply' so friendship included reproduction AND pleasure of sex
- BUT sex is always secondary to friendship
- Friendship is the highest expression of human existence
- Sex when required occurred without lust and an erection could be summoned by Adam as the will was so perfectly tuned to the body
- BUT sex is always secondary to friendship
- Adam and Eve were married in paradise as friends and participated equally and mutually in the friendliness of God
- Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked
- After the Fall
- The reason for Adam's disobedience originates in human perversity and pride and was entirely voluntary
- Divided Will
- The distorted will had now become divided
- Rational enough to kow what is good but the Fall meant what it willed was often motivated by desire not good
- Paul in letter to Romans: I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate
- Augustine describes the will as half wounded and divided, ingrained out of habit
- Will is at war with itself and unable to obey own orders
- Rational enough to kow what is good but the Fall meant what it willed was often motivated by desire not good
- The distorted will had now become divided
- Divided Will
- Concupiscence
- Man no longer able to control libido and desiring aspect of soul dominated by concupiscence
- Disagreed with Manichean argument and Platonic notions that body is sinful, it cannot be as it was created to be good by God
- Will weak and divided so concupiscence dominates human existence, hence body craves money, power, food and sexual intercourse above all
- Concupiscence painfully experienced in friendships - jealousy, betrayal and death threaten to cause pain and undermine true friendship
- We invest so heavily in friendships that we're distracted from loving God
- Concupiscence painfully experienced in friendships - jealousy, betrayal and death threaten to cause pain and undermine true friendship
- Will weak and divided so concupiscence dominates human existence, hence body craves money, power, food and sexual intercourse above all
- Disagreed with Manichean argument and Platonic notions that body is sinful, it cannot be as it was created to be good by God
- Man no longer able to control libido and desiring aspect of soul dominated by concupiscence
- Original Sin
- 'Through Adam all have fallen' St Paul
- Other theologians took this to describe inadequacies all humans are prone to
- Augustine made this sin an ontological condition of human existence, not a description of our behaviour on occasions
- Sin of Adam is passed on through every generation by each sexual act as this is tainted by concupiscence
- 'Through Adam all have fallen' St Paul
- Free Will
- On Free Will by Augustine
- Book1 he argued platonic view that using reason and aspiring to the Good by living virtuous life was possible through free will
- Books 2 and 3 concluded that sex drive, ignorance and death were punishments for human rebellion which no amount of human reasoning could overcome
- Sin is involuntary
- On Free Will by Augustine
- Men and Women's Natures
- 'So God created man in his own image... male and female he created them' Genesis
- Rejected Philo of Alexander's interpretation of Genesis who blamed Adam's sin on Eve's evil nature
- Said men and women were created equal but different
- Created imago dei, so share equally in God's rational nature
- Difference in role determined by their bodies and roles in society
- Man active in sex so exercises deliberative rational aspect of soul to rule over irrational animal world, active in public sphere and obedient to God
- Women passive in sex so homemaker, obeys husband and is child bearer. Uses deliberative reason in household as mother and housewife
- St Paul 'woman has been made for man'
- Difference in role determined by their bodies and roles in society
- Created imago dei, so share equally in God's rational nature
- Said men and women were created equal but different
- Rib from Adam's side illustrates they share same spiritual nature
- Fall affects them differently due to bodies - punished differently - men pain of work, women childbirth
- Eve not punished more for being evil temptress but her body was made less spiritually pure than men
- St Paul said women should wear veils as the glory of man, whereas man is the image and glory of God
- Moses - women wear veils to show obedience to husband and sign his image is less corrupt than hers - women subordinate rationally but not spiritually otherwise wouldn't be able to know God and be redeemed
- St Paul said women should wear veils as the glory of man, whereas man is the image and glory of God
- Eve not punished more for being evil temptress but her body was made less spiritually pure than men
- Fall affects them differently due to bodies - punished differently - men pain of work, women childbirth
- Grace
- We could reach the summum bonum (harmonious relationship with God) if we make required effort
- Through God's generous love that our will is healed and relationship with Him restored - healed through God's grace, act of love in gift of Jesus which removes guilt of originl sin
- Without Jesus, no redemption
- People continue to sin but God has elected those who will respond to His love to be restored to paradise assisted by the Holy Spirit
- Through God's generous love that our will is healed and relationship with Him restored - healed through God's grace, act of love in gift of Jesus which removes guilt of originl sin
- We could reach the summum bonum (harmonious relationship with God) if we make required effort
- The reason for Adam's disobedience originates in human perversity and pride and was entirely voluntary
- Before the Fall
- Akrasia
- Augustine
- Before the Fall
- Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked
- Until the Fall, humans lived in harmony expressed in complete obedience of Adam and Eve to God and in duties to other creatures
- Human will, body and reason in complete co-operation
- Until the Fall, humans lived in harmony expressed in complete obedience of Adam and Eve to God and in duties to other creatures
- The Will as Love
- Will is God-given
- Created ex-nihilo with humans
- Can choose good or evil and determines kind of people we are
- Created ex-nihilo with humans
- Will is synonymous with love
- If driven by cupiditas it diminishes us as humans
- If driven by caritas it completes us as humans when we will our neighbours good by expressing the divine love of God for his creation
- Will is God-given
- Sex and Friendship
- Adam and Eve were married in paradise as friends and participated equally and mutually in the friendliness of God
- Theologians of the time argued marriage occurred after the Fall to control lust
- 'Be fruitful and multiply' so friendship included reproduction AND pleasure of sex
- BUT sex is always secondary to friendship
- Friendship is the highest expression of human existence
- Sex when required occurred without lust and an erection could be summoned by Adam as the will was so perfectly tuned to the body
- BUT sex is always secondary to friendship
- Adam and Eve were married in paradise as friends and participated equally and mutually in the friendliness of God
- Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked
- After the Fall
- The reason for Adam's disobedience originates in human perversity and pride and was entirely voluntary
- Divided Will
- The distorted will had now become divided
- Rational enough to kow what is good but the Fall meant what it willed was often motivated by desire not good
- Paul in letter to Romans: I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate
- Augustine describes the will as half wounded and divided, ingrained out of habit
- Will is at war with itself and unable to obey own orders
- Rational enough to kow what is good but the Fall meant what it willed was often motivated by desire not good
- The distorted will had now become divided
- Divided Will
- Concupiscence
- Man no longer able to control libido and desiring aspect of soul dominated by concupiscence
- Disagreed with Manichean argument and Platonic notions that body is sinful, it cannot be as it was created to be good by God
- Will weak and divided so concupiscence dominates human existence, hence body craves money, power, food and sexual intercourse above all
- Concupiscence painfully experienced in friendships - jealousy, betrayal and death threaten to cause pain and undermine true friendship
- We invest so heavily in friendships that we're distracted from loving God
- Concupiscence painfully experienced in friendships - jealousy, betrayal and death threaten to cause pain and undermine true friendship
- Will weak and divided so concupiscence dominates human existence, hence body craves money, power, food and sexual intercourse above all
- Disagreed with Manichean argument and Platonic notions that body is sinful, it cannot be as it was created to be good by God
- Man no longer able to control libido and desiring aspect of soul dominated by concupiscence
- Original Sin
- 'Through Adam all have fallen' St Paul
- Other theologians took this to describe inadequacies all humans are prone to
- Augustine made this sin an ontological condition of human existence, not a description of our behaviour on occasions
- Sin of Adam is passed on through every generation by each sexual act as this is tainted by concupiscence
- 'Through Adam all have fallen' St Paul
- Free Will
- On Free Will by Augustine
- Book1 he argued platonic view that using reason and aspiring to the Good by living virtuous life was possible through free will
- Books 2 and 3 concluded that sex drive, ignorance and death were punishments for human rebellion which no amount of human reasoning could overcome
- Sin is involuntary
- On Free Will by Augustine
- Men and Women's Natures
- 'So God created man in his own image... male and female he created them' Genesis
- Rejected Philo of Alexander's interpretation of Genesis who blamed Adam's sin on Eve's evil nature
- Said men and women were created equal but different
- Created imago dei, so share equally in God's rational nature
- Difference in role determined by their bodies and roles in society
- Man active in sex so exercises deliberative rational aspect of soul to rule over irrational animal world, active in public sphere and obedient to God
- Women passive in sex so homemaker, obeys husband and is child bearer. Uses deliberative reason in household as mother and housewife
- St Paul 'woman has been made for man'
- Difference in role determined by their bodies and roles in society
- Created imago dei, so share equally in God's rational nature
- Said men and women were created equal but different
- Rib from Adam's side illustrates they share same spiritual nature
- Fall affects them differently due to bodies - punished differently - men pain of work, women childbirth
- Eve not punished more for being evil temptress but her body was made less spiritually pure than men
- St Paul said women should wear veils as the glory of man, whereas man is the image and glory of God
- Moses - women wear veils to show obedience to husband and sign his image is less corrupt than hers - women subordinate rationally but not spiritually otherwise wouldn't be able to know God and be redeemed
- St Paul said women should wear veils as the glory of man, whereas man is the image and glory of God
- Eve not punished more for being evil temptress but her body was made less spiritually pure than men
- Fall affects them differently due to bodies - punished differently - men pain of work, women childbirth
- Grace
- We could reach the summum bonum (harmonious relationship with God) if we make required effort
- Through God's generous love that our will is healed and relationship with Him restored - healed through God's grace, act of love in gift of Jesus which removes guilt of originl sin
- Without Jesus, no redemption
- People continue to sin but God has elected those who will respond to His love to be restored to paradise assisted by the Holy Spirit
- Through God's generous love that our will is healed and relationship with Him restored - healed through God's grace, act of love in gift of Jesus which removes guilt of originl sin
- We could reach the summum bonum (harmonious relationship with God) if we make required effort
- The reason for Adam's disobedience originates in human perversity and pride and was entirely voluntary
- Before the Fall
- Conclusion
- Unless one has sufficient humility to acknowledge failings of human nature and faith in love of God, no amount of reason can bring eudaimonia
- 'Unless you believe, you will not understand' Isaiah
- Unless one has sufficient humility to acknowledge failings of human nature and faith in love of God, no amount of reason can bring eudaimonia
- The Paradox
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