In the second chapter of the eighth
book in St. Augustine’s work entitled City
of God, he shows a particular way in which he presents Philosophy. For St. Augustine, Philosophy is a way in
which man can realize his actual relation to God, in a rational presentation of
truth. He shows this by his elaborate
presentation of the ideas of the two philosophical schools, namely the Italic
and the Ionic schools and their founders.
The
first whom St. Augustine discussed was the Italic school, which had Pythagoras
as its founder. Although St. Augustine
did not actually dwell too much in the Italic school, what can be of note in
his understanding of them concerning the premise would be the way Pythagoras
had presented Philosophy. Pythagoras
presented Philosophy as a reflective endeavor. This is an important concept in
St. Augustine’s representation of Philosophy, because reflection is a crucial
part in the rational presentation of truth concerning man’s realization of his
relation to God. For the concerns of
such philosophy involve one’s life in the search for truth. Reflection is an important concept in
Philosophy as seen by St. Augustine. Since
it is dominated by theological concepts during his time, Philosophy involved
not only reasoning but also faith. This is what can be seen in St. Augustine’s
brief discussion of the Italic school.
Now,
we proceed to the discussion of St. Augustine with the Ionic school, which
consisted of the famous Pre-Socratics: Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes,
Anaxagoras, Diogenes, and Archelaus. Let
us first discuss the concepts made by these thinkers before we see them in
relation to the premise.
Thales presented
the notion of water as the source of all things in the world. He justifies this reason with the phases that
water undergoes to account for the different things in the world, which is
water being in a solid, liquid, or gaseous state. Indeed, Thales presented a good reason for
water being the origin of the things in the world, but St. Augustine criticizes
this thought. This criticism by St.
Augustine, according to the book Medieval
Philosophy: Essential Readings with Commentary, states that Thales failed
to account the “divine” aspect in the origin of the things in the world 1.
This is quite true, for if Thales really
wanted to make water as the origin of “all”, then he should have not excluded
the immaterial things, such as the ones that are “divine”. This is the same mistake which Anaximander also
made in his concept of the “apeiron” or “boundless”. This is because the mere fact that everything
in this world springs forth from an eddy, which produces the different things
in the world by a cyclical process of an alternate dissolution and regeneration
gives the assumption that it excludes the possibility of a “divine” aspect. It excludes the possibility of something which
is “divine” because a “cycle” presupposes “eternity”. “Eternity” for one thing, has no need for a
“creator” for it is capable of operating without any external principle to
govern it.
Anaximenes, who
was the student of Anaximander, started the advancement concerning the problem
of the origin of everything in the world.
This advancement was his notion of theology, although it wasn’t
explicitly stated in his concept. Anaximenes
held the position that the source of all things was air, and that things were
produced by the change of quantity in air. His notion of theology is expressed by his
account of neither denying nor ignoring the existence of gods. The mere fact that Anaximenes did not debunk
the thought of a “divine” thing gives the possibility that he acknowledges the
presence of such, in relation to his concept of air as the first principle.
This notion is considered to be an advancement from the previous thinkers since
it doesn’t only resolve the problem of “how” and “what” the things were made of.
Rather, it also provided “why” such things were made, which resolves the
confusion of the additional principles involved in the transformation of
things. This confusion of additional principles can be found in Thales’ account
of water as the origin of things, since water needed to be either exposed to
either hotness or coldness for it to change its phase. This then makes Thales’ water as the “first
principle” to be wrong, since it needed other “principles” for it to change its
phase, namely the “principles” of “hotness” and “coldness”. Therefore, Anaximenes, by indirectly
recognizing the “divine” was able to give a solid foundation concerning the
origin of things by providing “why” such things came to be.
The advancement
started by Anaximenes was adapted by his successors, Anaxagoras and Diogenes. Anaxagoras, who claimed earth as the origin
of things, gave the explicit recognition of a “divine” mind to account for the
different things that came from the element of earth. Earth, being a static, stable element,
naturally needed another factor which can account for the dynamism required for
the creation of things. The “divine”
mind is a necessary factor in this notion. Diogenes, on the other hand, also recognized
the “divine” mind. However, he did not establish a dichotomy between the
“divine” and the material principle.
Instead, he considered the material principle and the “divine” as
one. Diogenes held the position that
everything came from air, which also had the characteristic of a “divine”
reason which explains the difference in the things in the world.
Anaxagoras’
successor and Socrates’ teacher, Archelaus also recognized the notion of a
“divine” mind. Archelaus held the
position that things consists of homogeneous particles that were guided by a
“divine” mind, which in turn animated all eternal bodies or those particles,
making them alternately united and separated.
The advancement and
flow of ideas and concepts of the Pre-Socratics as presented by St. Augustine paints
the picture of the premise concerning Philosophy: that it is a way in which man
can realize his actual relation to God, in a rational presentation of truth. It can be observed that the journey towards
having a solid foundation in truth was presented in a rational manner. This “rational” manner can be traced back
from Pythagoras until Archelaus. This
“rational” manner which depicts Philosophy is as follows: from Pythagoras, a
starting point was made for the search for truth. This is the notion of reflection, which
involved one’s life in relation to the truth that must be sought. For one to begin searching for an answer, the
first thing that he does is to reflect upon the problem and see the different
aspects of it. In seeing such aspects, one can see the significance of the
truth sought in relation to the advancement of his mind and his understanding
of things around him. This is the
thought which Pythagoras represents in St. Augustine’s account of the
Pre-Socratics.
After
reflection, one moves to speculation.
This is depicted by the Ionic School and its founders, who focused on speculating
the nature of things and their origin.
This usually involves something that is material. In this speculation of
the material origins, one begins to realize that something “material” alone
cannot account for change or the differences between things. Speculation, therefore, can make one see
beyond the material aspects of this world. Speculation can make one realize
that there is something “divine” after exhausting one’s reasoning with the
material principles in the world.
The movement
from oneself through reflection, and towards one’s world by speculation proves
the “rational” manner in the search for a solid foundation of truth. This is because there is a dialectical
process or a system that can be traced back after one had arrived at a
conclusion. There is something “divine” that governs the material world.
Now how can such
rational manner lead man into realizing his relation to a “divine” or God? Reason, therefore, aids man in his search for
truth and realization of faith in God.
Frederick Copleston, in his book entitled A History of Philosophy, supports this claim saying that reason
plays an important part in preparing a person to faith and once the person has
faith, reason then can help him evaluate the different concepts of faith2. This gives a picture of Philosophy in St.
Augustine’s context which emphasized the complementary relation of faith and
reason. Unraveling the truths associated with something “divine” always
requires reason as a sort of recognition of what have been there. It then goes through more deeply by
speculation and reflection. Creatively and consistently, these activities lead
man to understand the what, how, and why of things. It is in this stage that he comes to
understand the “divine” aspect present in all things and
his relation with it.
Sources:
1. Gyula
Klima, “Augustine on Ancient Philosophy”, (USA: Blackwell Publishing), In Medieval Philosophy: Essential Readings with
Commentary, 31.
2. Frederick
Copleston, “Pre-Medieval Influences: Augustine”, (New York: Double Day), In A History of Philosophy, 48.
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