Lesson 3ª

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

Knowledge

Given the fact that the HUMAN SOUL is the most important part of human beings, it is evident that it is not 'passive' nor 'receptive' in the act of sensation; it is ACTIVE. Thus, we can define sensation as ‘the special concentration of the soul to care for the disturbances of the flesh’.

Knowledge, on the other hand, consists in the discovery of truth by means of DIVINE ILLUMINATION. This concept of 'divine illumination' derives directly from the theory of 'emanation' by Plotinus. Three factors intervene:

  1. GOD, spiritual light
  2. IMMUTABLE TRUTHS in the mind of God
  3. HUMAN FACULTY to grasp these truths

The same as Philo of Alexandria, St. Augustine identified GOD as the BEING ("I am who I am").

He is immutable because He is eternal, and He can be contemplated in three aspects (Holy Trinity):

Creation

The Augustine theory of ‘creation’ is also similar to the Platonic (or better said, to Neoplatonism). It is based on three principles:

  1. ETERNAL IDEAS in the mind of God (things are 'just' the reflection of ideas)
  2. FREEDOM (the world doesn't 'emanate' from God, but He created it at His will.

God created:

3. SEMINAL PRINCIPLES (God created some things in an embryonic form; they would later reach full development)

    • Supremacy of God's power
    • Weakness and nothingness of creatures.

Ethics

According to St. Augustine, the same as for Plotinus, virtue consists in the search for HAPPINESS (or ‘true joy’). This ‘happiness’ originates, the same as Spinoza later on, in the LOVE FOR GOD (supernatural gift of the illuminated consciousness). In this sense, we can divide humanity into two ‘cities’:

  • CITY OF THE WORLD (those who love the world)
  • CITY OF GOD (those who love God).

Of course, man is free to choose any one of the two cities; thus, we need to state the difference between two concepts:

  • FREEDOM (incompatible with sin)
  • FREEWILL (freedom to choose sin or not to).