ST. AUGUSTINE

· Birth 354

· A pastor/preacher

· Writings are geared to help the people in his audience be able to understand

· UNDERSTANDING OF GOD:

o Not completely Christian

o Believes in spoiling the Egyptians

§ Doesn’t know true object of his pursuit (in Christianity)

o First to introduce faith into philosophy:

§ Reason is only part of the journey.

§ Reason will only get you so far, you also need faith.

§ Faith is a belief in a god who has revealed himself

§ Faith and reason complement each other-both necessary

· SENSES:

o Give you a degree of knowledge (lowest degree of knowledge)

o Not simply appearances

o Reliable but limited

o For everything we come to know, it creates a soul-ish image that we know

o Every time we think of it, we judge the characteristics or categories of it

o Categories = eternal things

o Anything good and beautiful can reflect us to God – Same with order = Wants to see how it leads us to God

o Points us to general truth = points us to God

· DOCTRINE OF ILLUMINATION:

o Augustine-

§ Doesn’t want to rely on this.

§ Even knowing the ability to know is something we rely on God for

§ Believes that knowledge is made possible by God

§ Believes that all things are illuminated for us by God

o Plato-

§ We know because when we were immortal souls

§ When we fell, we forgot that knowledge

§ We can find that knowledge

§ How can we know? Ideas had to be birthed out

o Aristotle-

§ How can we know? Particulars lead to actuals

*God is that which we are trying to know

· THE GOOD LIFE:

o Knowing God

o Finding oneself in the presence-peace- of God

o Seek the face of God

· BELIEVES ABOUT GOD:

o Existence:

§ Our existence

· Dependent on him

· Because of His existence

· Changing-temporal

§ God’s existence

· Eternal—we don’t have the words to describe because no one has experienced it

· Not encased/bound by his creation

o Time nor space

· Infinite

o What we can know about God

§ Taking what God has given us, we can know things about God

§ Knowing God is not just a knowledge of God

§ The more we know about God, the more we participate in God’s nature

o The Dance (Salvation):

§ Three-person dance (Trinity in Love) and Jesus asks you to dance with them

§ Participating in that love

o Not the intellect that needs dominance, but the will

§ Purify will that will guide reason to it’s object

§ Will = love

§ We will always love/have love

§ We have a love within us that craves an object that is infinite/boundless

· When this love is attached to something shallow(thing/person), it will only be filled for a short time

· Anything we love reflects something on us—fills some need

· Only one thing that will fully fill that love—God

*This thought opens up the pure will for all people

· LOVE:

o We love God

o We learn to love through God

o God is the only thing that we fully love for himself

§ Love of people

· only through God

· love from a reference to God

§

H.W:

Initial test

- Posted online – Exam Questions

- two paragraphs

- Due Thursday (Hard Copy)

PIP IDEA:

Photography

- Look for inspirational art

- Representational Art

- Using a philosophical idea and portraying it in the arts

	Created by Chantal Sallade about 9 years ago

College Philosophy 180 Note on Philosophy- St. Augustine, created by Chantal Sallade on 29/09/2015.