In the fifth chapter of the eighth
book of St. Augustine’s City of God, noted is St. Augustine’s consideration
that Philosophy is epistemology. This he
meaningfully discussed by considering the Platonists as the more preferred
persons who can help one in knowing and understanding matters concerning
theology.
In
the first part of the fifth chapter, St. Augustine presents the mythical and
civil theologies as inadequate references for the realization of a blessed
life. This is because of the way such theologies fill up the minds of men with
the crimes of the gods, and in turn defiles them with the way they worship
these gods. These negative notions connote
material and finite perspectives of truths.
Mythical and civil theologies are other philosophers’ references for
truth. In contrary to such, St.
Augustine recognizes the Platonists. The
Platonists possess excellent knowledge in the threefold division of philosophy
which point to the moral, natural, and rational aspects in the search for truth
and wisdom. These three aspects made
their opinions preferable over the others since they imply the rational and
logical ways to the search for truth or wisdom through knowing and
understanding that beyond materiality and finitude, lies the very nature of a
true blessed life.
The Platonists’ opinions closely
resembles Christianity. According to the
book Christian Book Summaries, this inclination which makes Platonists closely
resembling Christianity is their giving of importance to moral philosophy 1. In
other words, the Platonists are rational and logical thinkers. They do not simply content themselves on
knowing what is finite but understanding it through knowing infinite things to
lead them to what is moral. This
prevents them from falling into the mistake of the other philosophers who were
blind followers of mythical and civil theologies (e.g. Numa Pompilius and
Cicero).
What
also made St. Augustine disregard the other philosophers in matters of theology
is their assumption that all things are material. This assumption is traced
back from the Pre-Socratics, the Stoics, and the Epicureans who held different perspectives
on the material origins of things. These
may mean elements, bodies or principles which they all assume to be the
foundation of things and life in such things.
St. Augustine criticized these
assumptions of such philosophers by emphasizing that their assumptions were
driven by the senses which blinded them from seeing the real cause or origin of
all things. This blindness is expressed
in the example given by St. Augustine of the Stoics, who assumed that fire is
living and intelligent. This fire is one of the elements of the visible world. However, for St. Augustine, this “living and
intelligent” fire of the Stoics implies the attributes of God. Since
the Stoics were very fixated in their sense experience about fire as “living”
and “intelligible”, they failed to realize that such are the qualities of a
divine Being: God.
To
deeply understand epistemology, Stanford Encyclopedia defines epistemology as
the study of justified belief and of knowledge 2. Epistemology, as a study of knowledge,
concerns itself with issues concerning the necessary and sufficient conditions
in attaining knowledge, sources of knowledge, and the limits of knowledge.
The
notion that Philosophy is epistemology gives premium on the necessity of logic
and rational thinking in determining the limitations and the sufficient
conditions for attaining knowledge (epistemology) and understanding such
through knowledge of the nature of God (theology). In other words St.
Augustine’s recognition of rational and logical thinking, as qualities modelled
by Platonists, points out that these
qualities are necessary in understanding the real origin of all things in the
world, God. Through such, knowledge can be ascertained. The moral life can be known, and it is
understood to be something that lies beyond the senses.
Therefore,
the search of truth or wisdom requires rational and logical thinking. With these, all knowledge about things can
be evaluated not only through the senses but also beyond them. By doing such, the confusion caused by material fixation on
origin of all things can be avoided. The
realization of God as the origin of all things is the core of St. Augustine’s
attainment of a blessed life.
Sources:
1. Bonnie
Church, Christian Book Summaries,
accessed August 4, 2015, http://www.christianbooksummaries.com/library/v4/cbs0424.pdf.
2. “Epistemology”,
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed
August 4, 2015, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology/#REP.
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