Philosophy Test: Augustine & Philosophy with Religion

Q2-T1

What did Augustine believe to be the highest good?

God

St. Augustine

Augustine was a Christian thinker from North Africa known for his writings on philosophy and religion. He often responded to heresies like Manichaeism or Gnosticism.

What were Augustine’s views according to epistemology and metaphysics/the human condition?

St. Augustine perceived the human condition according to the original sin doctrine. He believed that Adam and Eve's original sin was hereditary and passed down through every generation. Essentially, this would mean that all humans are naturally inclined to sin and need to find God to overcome that sin. Augustine’s examination of Kreeft’s Summum Bonum concluded that he believed the highest good to be God’s grace. He also asserted that man must find a home, as it is human nature. He defined this home in four parts: nature, self, others, and god. Augustine would acknowledge his surroundings (environmental and personal), himself, and God, which he considered the highest of all.

T/F: Augustine believed that man is a seeker.

False: He thought that man lived to desire and love.

T/F: Augustine saw the fall of Rome

True

What book was writing in response to the fall of Rome?

City of God

T/F: Although his mother wanted him to be a good Christian, young Augustine was not a good Christian. 

True

T/F: According to the lectures, Augustine thinks that Man is a seeker because that is what the term "man" means in ancient greek. 

False

What are the four possibilities as to where man can find his home according to Augustine?

Self, others, nature, and God

T/F: For Augustine, Man is essentially a seeker, a lover, a desirer. He needs to discover and attain his own end and home and happiness.

True

What philosophy was Augustine first attracted to?

Manichaeism

T/F: Manichaeism was dualistic.

True

T/F: Augustine wrote The Confessions.

True

What did Augustine believe to be the connection between faith and reason?

Reason is not enough to reach truth or understanding; faith is necessary to complete the process. Isaiah 7:9 “unless you believe you will not understand.”

How was philosophy incorporated into The New Testament?

Paul’s writing has philosophical undertones, and is often referenced by later philosophers. It also mentions more or less platonic thoughts through a perspectival view of human reason (imperfect). The Gospel of John employs language of the Logos and clarifies the Logos as one of the members of the Christian Trinity.

Who was Philo of Alexandria, and what did he believe regarding philosophy and Religion?

He was a Jewish theologian and thinker who attempted to reinterpret religion and God in the view of Greek philosophy. He claimed God is the demiurge and the logos.

Who was Thomas Aquinas, and what did he believe regarding philosophy and Christianity?

He was an early theologian who used philosophy to justify Christian beliefs. He defined philosophy as “reason”.

Who was Turtullian, and what did he believe regarding philosophy and Christianity?

He was the first important Christian thinker to write in Latin, and is known for the statements: “What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?” and “Credo quia absurdum”. He had a negative view of philosophy and human reason, which he thought were below Christian faith, and believed that they were to be discouraged and ignored altogether.

Who was Clement of Alexandria, and what did he believe regarding philosophy and Christianity?

He believed that philosophy prepared the Greek world for the gospel, and that faith is necessary to grasp God.

T/F: Augustine was an occasional writer.

True

T/F: Most medieval philosophers were not concerted with how to relate philosophy to religion.

False

How was the tree of philosophy constructed?

• greek = roots

• medieval = trunk

• modern = branches 

• contemporary = twigs and leaves 

modern vs. medieval vs. ancient thought

Ancient thought: cosmocentric

Medieval thought: theocentric

Modern thought: antrhopocentric

T/F: Augustine believed there was a sharp distinction between things that come from the mind of humans (reason) and things that come from God (revelation).

True