St. Augustine Accepts Platonic Concept Essay

As a “doctor” of the Church, he defended Christianity against false (heretic) interpretation. After his conversion, he refused to teach rhetoric. Yet, in the end, no matter what sin he had done, he found his savior which is God. Augustine then writes about how to convey God’s truth to diverse audiences and demonstrates that both the Bible and one’s own life are texts to be read and assessed against the true Cristian Doctrine. The last four books offer an interpretation of the opening of the Book of Genesis. As mention before when Augustine’s converted to Christianity his appropriation of Platonic ideas uses his past sins and later confesses to God. This will eventually enhance his mind and soul. The consequences of this appropriation are that sins can be ‘pleasurable’ which will tremendously affect Augustine’s life.

When Olympians Becomes Lab Rats An athlete makes everything look so effortless on television. How many times have you thought about taking up gymnastics, basketball or football because of a game you were watching? Once you've taking that hobby you get frustrated when you are not doing as well as you thought you would. You find yourself huffing and puffing and your face becomes as red as a tomato; your palms get sweaty and it becomes harder to get a grasp of the ball. You are not alone, and even professional athletes get stressed out.

The final chapter recapitulates the main points of every book and discusses the impossibility and possibility of seeking God from the creation. In this chapter Augustine argues that the image trinity is inadequate but a means of access to communion with God. It is also in this very last chapter that he points out the eternal procession of the Son and the Holy Spirit form the Father.

In Augustine’s day there were many religions available to choose from some of which had many gods. St. Augustine was born to a pagan father and a Christian mother. He lived a life of immorality until his early thirties when he suddenly took a new path. During his upbringing his parents began to instill their beliefs and way of living which he later began to question. Though his mother taught and raised him as a Christian he did not fully accept the faith. Instead, during his education, he became fascinated with the writings of the great philosophers such as Plato. The ideas expressed in the writings of the great philosophers, such as

XII, p. 130). It is obvious from this quote that Augustine now fully subscribes to the idea of only one God, who created “all things.” This differs from Gnostics, who believed in two Gods—one of matter and one of the spirit. This is shown in the Gnostic Gospel of Mary, which states, “Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature” (Mary 4:30). This means that matter and nature are “contrary,” meaning they are two separate things that were created by two different Gods.

Augustine’s literary style in Confessions was very effective in relaying his thoughts on evil, redemption, Genesis, and his personal dichotomy between the bible and Neoplatonism. . Though the first nine books are a reflection of his life they are filled with the relationship between his thoughts and actions and his path to redemption and salvation, connecting these with his deep philosophical thoughts in the final books. It was interesting to see how his perspective changed over the course of his life as he began to combine Neoplatonic thought with metaphorical analysis of the bible.

After a year of voting and much debate the final decision of electing the 45th president of the United States was once again down to the Electoral College. (history) The Electoral College system was established by the founding fathers around 130 years ago and basically a process used to select the President and vice President of the United States of America (Procon). So when you went to the polls on November 8th and casted your vote for the next president, something else happened behind the scenes and you may not like or if you are trump supporter you may love (Procon). For example, lets say you’re a Hillary Clinton supporter that lives in Washington, due to a certain amendment of the United States constitution, the Electoral College, you’re not actually voting for Hillary Clinton. (Procon)If you’re familiar with the process you are actually voting for a guy named Robert Satiacum and eleven of his peers. So who is Robert Satiacum? (Procon) He and 11 others were selected by the Washington state democratic party to represent them in Electoral College if their candidate, Hillary Clinton, wins the popular vote (Procon). If that happens, then Robert and the eleven electors will officially become electors of Washington, and they will earn the right to vote in the real election (Procon). On the real Election Day, the five hundred and thirty eight members of the Electoral College can technically vote for anyone they want (Procon). This process was thought of and finally agreed upon

St. Augustine is a man with a rational mind. As a philosopher, scholar, and teacher of rhetoric, he is trained in and practices the art of logical thought and coherent reasoning. The pursuits of his life guide him to seek concrete answers to specific questions. Religion, the practice of which relies primarily on faith—occasionally blind faith—presents itself as unable to be penetrated by any sort of scientific study or inquiry. Yet, like a true scientist and philosopher, one of the first questions St. Augustine poses in his Confessions is: “What, then, is the God I worship” (23)? For a long time, Augustine searches for knowledge about God as a physical body, a particular entity—almost as if the Lord

Augustine devotes the first book to his childhood, which leads him to brood on human origin, memory, will and desire. He begins every book with a prayer and in the first book the prayer is particularly extensive. His concerns include how one can seek God without knowing what and who he is. How can one look for something if we don’t really know exactly what we are looking for? This idea serves as a foreshadowing for what is to come at the end of the book; the idea that if one seeks and then has faith in God, he will eventually reveal himself to us. Augustine discusses God’s attributes of asking

In the early period of Christianity, the influence of Plato's philosophical criticisms of art can be seen in effect in Augustine's view of the imagination as profane. One can question as to whether Augustine's view of original sin would have been so negative if he had not imbibed the Platonic conception of the Fall of the soul. The combination of Biblical and Hellenic elements made Christian philosophy,

Plato, arguably one of the most famous philosophers in history is known for his dialogues and theory of Forms. The theory of Forms argues that ideas (non-physical forms) are more real than tangible objects or what our senses perceive. According to Plato, there is the visible realm and intelligible realm. Reality could be divided into three different levels; the level of appearances, the real level, and the ideal level which he explains through the analogy of the ‘Divided Line’ in The Republic.

Great philosophers over time have shared ideas about their lifetime. There were no more captivating philosophers than Plato and Augustine who fed off one another. Even though they were born at different times, their ideas impacted the life they lived in and future lives. St. Augustine was a student of the wise Plato, who fed off his ideas and created his own form of philosophy. Plato on the other hand orbited the idea of the theory of forms which, later St. Augustine incorporated into his beliefs. St. Augustine used the notion of god to resemble his ideas, as well as Plato’s and a mix of Christianity to incorporate his own knowledge. The philosophical views, the ideas of good and

This duelist sect believed in the Devine God who was the embodiment of everything good and an equal evil power. They also believed that the flesh was inherently evil. In the next few years after settling his beliefs with Manechaeism and realizing its faults, Augustine would fall into believing in several other non-Christian movements (Brown 31). After being encouraged to do so by many of his friends, he read many of the writings of the Greek philosophers known as neoplatonists. Along with the sermons of Saint Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, these writings convinced Augustine to contemplate his return to the Christian faith. Eventually he overcame his numerous encounters with heresy, and was baptized into the Catholic Church in the year 387 (Brown 43).

Plato was interested in how we can apply a single word or concept to many words or things. For example how can the word house be used for all the individual dwellings that are houses? Plato answered that various things can be called by the same name because they have something in common. He called this common factor the thing’s form or idea. Plato insisted that the forms differ greatly from the ordinary things that we see around us. Ordinary things change but their forms do not. A particular triangle may be altered in size or shape but the form of a triangle can never change. Plato concluded that forms exist neither in space or time. They can be known not only by the intellect but also by the senses. Because of their stability and perfection, the forms have greater reality than ordinary objects observed by the senses. Thus true knowledge is knowledge of the forms.

Forms are necessary or essential properties of a particular or thing. According to Socrates, these forms have properties which give them a certain causal power. Using the concept of Forms, he systematically constructs an argument in an attempt to prove that the soul exists and must always exist. Although, his complete conception of Forms is not captured in the Phaedo, We can still use this dialectic to address his arguments. In this paper, I will attempt to describe the Forms. To do this, I will detail the properties of the Forms and what they are meant to do. Then, I will explain how the concept of the Forms figures into Plato’s/Socrates’ reflections. Socrates uses the concept of forms to construct an argument to conclude that the soul must exist and will always exist necessarily. With this argument in mind I will suggest possible complications that arise from this theory and counterpoints that Socrates could provide.