Great Ideas of Philosophy

longer refer merely to this world or even significantly to this world. As for the problem of governance, thecity of man and the city of God are radically different.C. Whatever one takes to be the validity of the religious tenets of the Christian religion, history teaches thatthe likely success of a faith is greatly reduced when it has an officially anti-intellectual attitude. Asuccessful religion is one that has been promulgated by teaching, rather than by force.D. The anti-intellectualism of some of the early fathers often takes the form of quite interesting and profoundtreatises. As we know, only a person of broad learning knows the enemy well enough to mount a worthychallenge. At this juncture enters Augustine, who sets for himself the task of recovering the philosophicalwisdom of the ancients in order to render it serviceable to the cause of Christianity.III. In Greek philosophy, the problem of knowledge is settled by rational analysis or as a result of some sort ofintuitive power, or is abandoned as a casualty of the Skeptic’s weapons. But as Augustine makes clear in theConfessions, the knowledge sought by the Christian is unattainable without faith, with reason now a secondaryconsideration.A. Augustine writes of the ascent toward knowledge made with his mother, Monica, where the ascent itself isimpelled by a sincere love of God that allows one to reach planes of understanding unreachable by reasonor the arts of the metaphysician.B. Man is, as Aristotle teaches, by nature, a social animal. But in the perfectionist moral philosophy ofAristotle, there would seem to be little room for the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, which forAugustine, are essential to full development of our humanity.C. The ancient philosophers were skeptical about knowing the truth once and for all, and Augustine, too,writes of the fallibility of human knowledge. But through the grace of God, the truth may be gleaned by theunified and immortal soul. As the truths of mathematics do not depend on our senses or even ourrationality, there are truths beyond the reach of reason, grasped intuitively by some inner light.D. The ancient schools were elitist, utterly incompatible with a vision of universal brotherhood, except in therather rationalized version of some Stoic philosophy. It is just this brotherhood, however, that is thecornerstone of the teachings of Christ.E. Unencumbered by a providential monotheistic religion, the pagan world of Greek philosophy did not havethat problem of evil that plagues the Christian apologists.1. Much that we regard as “evil” arises from our own conduct, prompting us to ask: “Why would Godallow us to do such horrid things?” The stock answer is that we do such things freely and, thus, arefully responsible.2. But if we are free to this degree, then God either could not prevent what we do—and, thus, is notomnipotent—or didn’t know we were going to do it—and, thus, is not omniscient.3. In his treatise on freedom of the will, Augustine has two discussants, both of whom have faith, take upthis problem. They begin from the premise that God knows everything that is going to happen and iscapable of controlling everything. How, then, can the will be free? And if the will isn’t free, how can Ibe held accountable for what I do?4. The Augustinian solution is not entirely successful, as illustrated by the example of the traveler: Aguest is forced to switch his means of transportation from plane to train but is nonetheless met by hishost, who accurately predicted the guest’s arrival at the train station. To know that an actor will take acertain course is not to strip the actor of intentionality.5. From the fact that God knows, in virtue of his omniscience, everything that we will do, it does notfollow that when we do it, we do not do it volitionally. The will can be free, and God can knowexactly how it will be exercised.IV. We see in Augustine the introduction of a method that will become common in the intellectual history of thechurch: an analytical, dialectical approach.A. Consider again the problem of knowledge, but this time, the special problem of knowledge of God: Howdo we know about God? On most philosophical accounts, knowledge begins with experience. For theChristian, having accepted that God is an immaterial, massless entity, how can any epistemic claim bemade at all?©2004 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership 17