What is philosophy, based on Augustine's City of God, Bk. VIII, ch.6?

Philosophy for Augustine based on chapter 6 of book VIII of the City of God is God as unchangeable and has no material body. Augustine sees this God as not made but instead, this God is whom all things were made. This he calls the Physical Theology.

This can be understood through Augustine’s interpretation of the Platonists. He said that the Platonists, through experience, saw that the first principle of things must not be from the physical world. This is because the physical world or the sensible world is changing. A changing thing cannot cause the existence of another changing thing since the changing thing is still on the process of becoming a being. Only a being which is truly “is” can cause the existence of others.

A changing thing, be it in its form or nature can only “be” through which truly “is”. In here, Augustine accounts that which truly “is” as the God, the unchangeable reality. He is unchangeable because He is already in the state of being. He is the absolute “is” that supports and maintains the things that are changing, the things under the world of senses and intelligence. God cannot take the form of a material body since this is under things that are changing.

The realization that God is the absolute “is” is rooted from the Platonists experiences and trainings. These experiences and trainings have enabled them to judge better the things that pertain to senses and things that pertain to mind. They’ve said that it is the mind that judges and not the body but it doesn’t mean that the two are separate realities. It is the mind that develops or trains so that it can know better to judge better the sensible world. The world of the body can be understood by and through the mind.

For Augustine, the Platonists knows that the mind is changing that is why they trained. The mind is their tool in seeking God that transcends all bodies. It is only through the mind that God can be understood fully and truly but understanding God is also done only through the things it had made, the sensible things. It is the mind that can see the invisible things that God made. This invisible things, however is manifested by the sensible things.

Through training, the Platonists, who had gained more knowledge than other men, have concluded that the cause of all these sensible things cannot be accounted to that which is in the physical world. It is because the physical world is changing. They saw that a changing thing cannot cause another changing thing’s existence since it in itself is not stable. They have concluded that only an unchanging thing or reality can cause the existence of these things since it “is”. It is not made by anything or anyone but instead, it is where or whom all things came from. It is where things are made.

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Source:

Schaff, P. (1896). Augustine on Ancient Philosophy (M. Dods, Trans.).

      In Klima, G., Allhoff, F., & Vaidya, A. (Ed.). Medieval

      Philosophy: Essential Readings with Commentary

      (pp. 36-37). Blackwell Publishing: Australia.

What is philosophy, based on Augustine's City of God, Bk. VIII, ch.5?

Philosophy for Augustine based on book VIII, chapter 4 of “City of God” is knowing the one true God.  It is the God that is outside of the empirical nature.

In this chapter, Augustine discusses the demons that bear a god’s name that are worshipped by the people. Augustine states that the people should not be deceived by these gods for they are not the real God. He called these so called theologies of the fake God as fabulous and civil theology.

Fabulous theology and civil theology are these theologies pertaining to the gods that are defined through human terms. He stated that the gods contained in here deceives people into doing impure acts that are caused by impure desires. What they offer is letting people desire for earthly pleasures which for Augustine are not the rites suited for the true God.

The gods that was discussed are not the real God because according to Augustine, they are placed under the scale of nature. Meaning, they are boxed in the context of the empirical nature. They are not the real God for him because he believes that the one true God is not the same as man. He has different characteristics that does not resemble to man and to the nature that surrounds the man.

Augustine explained this through using the examples of the Roman gods which were pictured to have the same physical aspects of man and through the Stoics claim that the fire was the maker of all things. He said that these examples are not a picture of the one true God. God is not boxed and is not defined through the context of man and nature. These supposedly gods are not the real God because they were enslaved by the body which is vulnerable. He argues that God is beyond these things.

For Augustine, God is unchangeable.  He does not possess a body and is beyond man’s imagination. He is a soul which is neither one of the four elements and is distinct from the human soul. He is not composed of the earthly or worldly aspects for the earthly aspects change through time and this attribute would be not appropriate to refer to the divine nature. God does not change and is changed by nothing.

Philosophy for Augustine is knowing the one true God. He is not the God that takes the human form. He is not described in terms of human condition. Augustine warns the people to not be deceived by the demons that bear the name of a god for they would not lead to knowing the real God and they would only let them do crimes that are against the will of the real God. Augustine’s God is beyond human terms and is unchangeable. He does not possess the characteristics of the world that are subject to change.

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Source:

Schaff, P. (1896). Augustine on Ancient Philosophy (M. Dods, Trans.).

      In Klima, G., Allhoff, F., & Vaidya, A. (Ed.). Medieval

      Philosophy: Essential Readings with Commentary

      (pp. 34-36). Blackwell Publishing: Australia.

What is philosophy, based on Augustine's City of God, Bk. VIII, ch.4?

Philosophy for Augustine based on book VII, chapter 4 of "City of God" is to be excellent or find the excellence in all things.  To be excellent means that one is able to know the goal of his actions, the cause of existence and the reason for understanding.

To be excellent, according to Augustine, means that one has to live both an active and contemplative life. An active life is having a conduct of life or a way of life. A contemplative life, on the other hand, is inquiring to the cause of nature and pure truth and knowing the ultimate reason for existence. These two types of life that had to be lived is drawn as one by Augustine. To be excellent is to live this kind of life.

Now, this kind of life is further subdivided into three parts. To be excellent is to live a life that concerns to moral, natural and rational aspects of life. The moral aspect pertains to the active life while the natural and rational pertains to the contemplative life.

What does Augustine mean by these aspects of life? To be excellent is to have an end in reference to which the whole life is to be regulated (moral aspect). This means that one has to have a goal in life. He/she must be able to know what he/she wants to attain. To be excellent is to find the cause of nature (natural aspect). One must find an explanation about the things happening around him/her. He/she must know the nature of these things. To be excellent is to be able to distinguish which is true and not true (rational aspect). One must be able to discover the truth that is certain to him/her.

Later in the chapter, Augustine interprets that the end of actions, cause of nature and the reason for knowing true from not true is God. This means to say that God is the excellent Being that is sought by a person. He is the one that a person wanted to know the most. He is that excellent being that one studies or seeks understanding. The kind of life Augustine presented leads to the understanding of God.

Augustine’s Philosophy based on book VIII, chapter 4 of "City of God" is to be excellent. This is to live an active and contemplative life which is further specified to three divisions which are to know the end of actions, to identify the cause of nature and to discover the reason for knowing true from not true. All these strive to be excellent leads to the realization that the end of actions, the cause of nature and the reason for knowing true from not true is God. To be excellent is to know God.

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Source:

Schaff, P. (1896). Augustine on Ancient Philosophy (M. Dods, Trans.).

      In Klima, G., Allhoff, F., & Vaidya, A. (Ed.). Medieval

      Philosophy: Essential Readings with Commentary

      (pp. 33-34). Blackwell Publishing: Australia.