Hello fellow philosophers,
I have completed the assigned reading for our upcoming meeting. Our focus for this week is on the philosopher Augustine of Hippo. Augustine seems to be the first philosopher that we will discuss that devoted a lot of his time to religion and based many of his doctrines around the latter. Also, I definitely noticed that Augustine's existence was centered around the most common and overdone religious question of all time....Why does God permit evil? Augustine was very intuitive and had a knack for curiosity. Hopefully we can further discuss Augustine's beliefs and principles in greater detail at our upcoming philosophy session, without stepping on anyone's toes as well as remembering to respect one another's religious views etc. because we all know how testy conversations of the like can be. All in all, I am looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow afternoon for another great Philosophy period!
Questions:
1) What view did Augustine have in common with Plato?
2) Do you believe that Adam and Eve are to blame for the ills of the world?
Hey Guys!
ReplyDeleteWell I finally caught up on all my chapters and have got to say the Chapter about Augustine of Hippo is very interesting. For many centuries now people have been questioning the concepts of good and evil in the world, and why God plays little or no role to fight against it. Augustine came up with his solution after thinking for much time. Free Will Defence gave the people of Augustines' time something to ponder. While most of them have strong Christian views, the Free Will Defence became an attractive view of living the life of a Christian. God granted us free will to make our own decisions, therefore giving human beings the ability to decide for themselves whether their actions will be of Good or Evil.
1. Did Augustine believe that the power of good and evil were equal?
2. Do you think good comes from the soul and evil comes from the body? How can this relate to previous experiences?
Finally, a philosopher that write down his own work. I'm not sure about you, but dealing with a third source was just too questionable for me. The question "Why does God allow evil if he is an all glorified God?" is one that will never be answered. At least not how everyone and their own religions wish it could be. Mostly it depends on that one persons view on how they look at God. I'm glad Augustine had more of an open opinion about it to explore different types of outlooks.
ReplyDeleteWe are allowed to free will, because we need to learn and make our own mistake and God allows us to do so. No one wants to live in a perfect, boring world. Yes, bad things happen, but I believe there is a reason behind it. Like they always say, the good die young. The faster one is allowed off of this terrible, cruel world the better off they are. Not everyone can survive in "the real world".
1.) When Augustine asked for God to cease all his sexual desires, why do you think he said "but not now"? Do you believe he was too interested in worldly values unlike other philosophers?
2.) Why do you think Augustine cut out the "natural evils"? If God is looked at as all powerful, shouldn't he be in charge of that too?
Hello everyone,
ReplyDeleteThis has probably been one of my favorite readings. I like where Augustine is coming from when he says that we as humans have the choice of good vs. evil. Basically, what he's trying to tell the people is that you God gave you the choice of good or evil and whichever choice you make, live/stand by it.
1) In your opinion, do you think that Augustine has a point of "good vs. evil choices" or do you believe that he is just full of hot air?
2) Would you be for or against Augustine's philosophy?