Alturism Vs. Egoism
Altruism
Selfless concern for the well-being of others.
Egoism
Selfish. Prioritising yourself and your own needs over others.
What is the Fall
Genesis
- Eve eating the apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, then A+E being expelled from Garden of Eden
What is Akrasia?
Weakness of will
- a moral paradox where we know something is not in our best interest, but do it anyway.
Plato - no Akrasia, simply use reason to wight up short + long-term pleasure gained
Aristotle - we don’t know all the facts, try to follow what is best ignorance leads us astray.
Name some Influences on Augustine?
- His mother Monica
- ‘wild’ youth + struggles with sexual urges
- Relationship +child with concubine (mistress) + forced to leave her
- Manichaeism - God of light, lower soul craves pleasures of material world, release found in prayer and abstinence from luxuries
- St. Ambrose
How was the world Pre-Fall
- Humans in Harmony with God
- Obedience to God
- Human body, will and reason harmony with each other
What was Adam + Eve’s relationship like Pre-Fall?
- Primarily friends
- Sex as secondary - rational act based on love and to reproduce
- Had caritas (divine love) which changes to cupiditas (selfish love)
- Sex driven by lust
How did Male + Female roles change due to Fall
- God given hierarchy, women subordinate to man - but both in image of God
–> not less valuable like women as a child, need parents control
–> fall leads to subversion of heirarchy - Women as helper to man + child
- Post-Fall women’s subordination increases as punishment
Cupiditas Vs Caritas
Cupiditas = selfish love
Caritas = divine love
Consequences of the Fall (5)
- Mall domination –> as eve led man to sin
- Cupiditas love –> selfish love, desire overrules reason
- Disruption of harmony between God + man
- Soul became divided
- Akrasia - weakness of will
Explain Original Sin
- Caused by Fall
- Tainting of humanity
- Every human has it , passed through sex as tainted by concupiscence
- Causes us to go against God; selfish, lack of free will, corruption.
- Removed by Jesus death + resurrection
Augustines views on Free Will
- Human will is free but not strong
- Should chained down by sin
–> cannot resist concupiscence
What is Concupiscence?
Lust, uncontrollable desires; libido, food, power
- Caused by Fall
- Body rebelling against mind
What is GRACE to Augustine?
- only way to overcome sin + heal damaged relationship with God
- Undeserved gift from God
- Living a good life / reason is not enough to reach eudaemonia - need grace
Who are the Wider Scholars we can use to critique Augustine? (7)
Dawkins
–> Augustine has unhealthy obsession with guilt, sin and repressed sexuality
–> Redemption through Jesus death is irrational
–> Augustine views are damaging
Steven Pinker
–> Christianity responsible for violence and suffering
–> Should be replaced by Humanitarian Principles e..g. rational people taking account of others interests
–> can decrease; torture, wars, abuse of women
Freud
–> Agree’s humans shaped by history, environment and that libido is central to development
–> Rejects idea of Fall
–> Remedy for guilt through psychoanalysis not GRACE
Satre
–> No Original Sin
–> Sin is failure to live own authentic life
Kant
–> Human Nature essentially good
–> Salvation achieved through following reason
Rousseau
–> Optimistic of Human Nature
–> “Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains” - Society + industrialisation cause of immorality
Quakers
–> Divine light within each person
Who are the Wider Scholars to support Augustine? (2)
- Hobbes - Human Nature immoral
–> Human Nature as selfish, “poor, nasty, brutish and short” - Niebuhr
–> Rationalism/ post-Enlightenment has failed
–> led to increased sin, war, poverty and cruelty
–> Human Responsibility has been corrupted
–> Humans need to come into a proper relationship with God
What are the Weaknesses of Augustine?
- A+E not perfection
–> Darwinism - people evolved over time - cant be perfection - Human Nature not Immoral
–> Quakers (divine light) , Kant (reason), Rousseau (State of Nature), Locke (blank slate - tabula rosa) - Augustines views are damaging
–> Pinker (causes war, abuse of women)
–> Dawkins (unhealthy obsession with guilt, violence and repressed sexuality) - Grace not the answer to immorality
–> Kant (reason)
–> Freud (psychoanalysis)
–> Rousseau (State of Nature)
–> Hobbes (powerful State - Social contract)
Strengths of Augustine
- Biblical basis
–> Genesis - Rationalism creates more evil
–> Niebuhr
–> Post-enlightenment rationalism failed - war, famine, cruelty - need to come back to God
Human Nature is immoral
–> Hobbes
–> Niebuhr
What is the State of Nature
State of nature - A hypothetical life and state of being were people are free to act on basic urges and desires. Life before society.
