Compare and Contrast Thomas Aquinas’s “treatise of law” and Saint Augustine’s political writing
The purpose of this paper is to give a detailed analysis of Thomas Aquinas’s “treatise of law” and Saint Augustine’s political writing in regards to politics, law, nature of Good as well as morality. The independent analysis also addresses the differences and distinction that the two writers have concerning the above subjects.
Augustine political philosophy
Christian tenets on the Fall of man, Redemption as well as a creation that are enshrined in the bible form the basis of his arguments. History to him, contrary to non-Christianity philosophers before who purports that history is cyclical, follows a linear pattern with both the beginning and the end.“ But the dominion of bad men harms themselves far more than their subjects, for they destroy their souls in their higher license to exercise their lusts, while those who put under them are not hurt unless by their iniquities“(Austine,13). According to him, the punishment imposed on the subjects by the rulers is a test of faith on the believers. The Christians are likened to christ, who underwent temptations and suffering but eventually triumphed over them. On the contrary, the sinners who mistreat the righteous are bound to suffer for their misdeeds.
The two cities and the origin of sin
“Because some live according to man, while others live according to God”(Augustine, 7 ). It is from this claim that Augustine came up with the idea of the two cities. The City of God and Earthly City. Some are destined for damnation because of their preferences to live as per their desires, while others are destined for salvation. A man who belongs to the City of God is expected to condemn evil and do good. There is free interaction between the members of the two cities and Christians, where the lovers of God are cherished to hate evil and not the evildoers. No man is born being an evildoer. A person who lives in the City of God should neither love the vice because of the man nor hate the man because of the clamp. They should strike a perfect hatred for the brace. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
“This earthly city which shall not be everlasting has all its good in this world and rejoices in it with such joy as such things can afford“(Augustine, 13). The citizens of the earthly City are the descendants of Adam and Eve and are justified to be damned for the Fall of Adam. Their constant desire for material things notices them. The central object of their love is not God and are, therefore, aliens to God’s love. They show rebellion, a trait that Augustine claims that was inherited from Adam and Eve, through their refusal to love God. They have an interest in other things that generate grief, fears, quarrels, law-suits, flattery, murder, envy, robbery, wickedness, shamelessness, and fornication, among other vices that can be mentioned. They oppress the lovers of God because of their selfish lust for material things. Conversely, citizens from the City of God, are aliens and foreigners of the world and they lack earthly institution which can substitute the human City. No institution or government can resemble with the City of God. If you belong to the City of God, you have not entitled another citizenship in the earthly City. Saint Augustine holds a firm conviction that all humans are stained since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden; hence, they are bound to be punished. On the contrary, some are chosen by God and are bestowed with salvation as a gift. There are no criteria or guidance shown that God uses to select His people. Therefore, there is no assurance, according to Augustine, that will make God choose a person because everyone is predestined to end up in salvation or damnation.
“For it desires earthly peace for the sake of enjoying earthly goods“(Augustine, 14). The desire for earthly contentment pushes the citizens of the human City to create war with conflicting parties with an attempt to gain control of what they want. The just will surrender to the tyrants who would do not care about the welfare of others while pursuing their interest in dominance to get peace. The people who choose to fight for what is just as enshrine in the City of God and die rather be slaves of the tyrants have been ridiculed for their strange position.
“For nature seem to cry out with one voice through all the people of the world, that it is better to serve the conqueror than to be destroyed by war.” (Augustine, 14). The conquest concept has motivated the political and social interactions of the people. For instance, those who are conquered are the subjects of tyranny and ruled without question. Furthermore, what is right and wrong is determined by the victors with the citizens of the City of God serving as the victims of the circumstance because they distance themselves in the affairs of the wrongdoers.
“For both, he who is good, is therefore good that he may be happy; and he who is bad, if he did not hope that he might be happy thereby”(Augustine, 119). The happy people have chosen to do good not only to themselves but also to the people around them. For anyone to be satisfied, they must first wish that they were pleased because no one can achieve what they had no wish to have. The existence of happiness is determined by the purposed fulfillment of the intention to have satisfaction. The precept suggests that comfort is a reward of doing good and is preserved to those who do good. A thief, for instance, cannot expect to be happy, yet he is doing malice to other people.
Conversely, the righteous enjoy a peaceful and happy life because the spirit of God guides them. ʻThe spirit lusteth against the flesh”. They overcome worldly desires because they are led by the soul, which is against sexual lust, and they attain the supreme good. God requires that human beings should sacrifice their life now so that they can inherit eternal happiness finally.“And therefore, those who admit the existence of evil display an intelligible doctrine; however, theirs is a surprising mistake when they contend this a happy life. However, evils are so high that he who endures them should commit suicide to avoid them”(Augustine,131). Human beings credit their happiness on the wings of the very evils they should quit, and those who dare to live purely as per the expectations of the supreme good should commit suicide so that they may avoid indulging themselves in the vices of this world. The evils contain a mighty spirit that compels human beings to be someone else that they do not wish to be. There the primary demand of nature that is a man should glorify himself and avoid death as much as they can by aligning himself to whatever he considers a friend to continue existing on earth. “The wise man, I admit, ought to bear death with patience, but when it inflicted by another”(Augustine, 132). When the evils compel a wise man to commit suicide that it should be tremendous and intolerable evils, and it shows that life is prone to accidents as well as environed with sins, which are grievous and considerable and could be termed happy, but it leads humans to suffer eventually.
“For every man seeks peace by waging war, but no man seeks war by making peace”(Augustine, 10). For the case of treason, those are no longer in touch with the community, must maintain peace with the people they conspire with to fulfill their wicked and malicious acts. For a case in point, a robber can invade the friendship of other people to maintain some sort of order with fellow thieves. They can resort to extremities like killing to conceal their identification when they are got. At the expense of gaining his peace with his immediate family, they destroy anything that can expose them whole, enjoying some shadow of order. They fear being termed monsters, robbers, and murderers in front of the family they are in control. Therefore, they engaged in warlike activities with savageness and ferocity for the sake of creating peace with themselves. Augustine’s argument suggests that actions are motivated b the desire to maintain personal order. Augustine built on the idea of the state and talked about the existence of the two distinct cities. The City of God consists of patriots who believe in investing in eternal peace while the earthly City consists of citizens who believe in the tireless struggle for material things that include political power. The tiring pursuit for material things makes humans loose morals at the expense of gaining fame, wealth, or favors. Another essential concept in Saint Augustine is to show love to God is to identify with the Truth since God is the Truth Himself. People can understand the Truth only if they choose to believe since it can only be discerned through personal conviction and experiences. Augustine asserts that understanding God requires faith.
Relationship between Platoʻs arguments with Augustine
According to Plato, justice is an art that gives the right to friends and evils to the enemies( Plato, 182). The capacity of human beings to provide reserve good to people considered friends and serve evil or do good to those regarded as enemies is what constitutes justice. People do justice to friends by creating unions and attachments that would enable them to get what they want through cooperation. The enemies suffer because they are fighting in cruel wars that will destroy. Human beings would wage war on anything that hinders their ambition, hope, and confidence. Augustine asserts, based on this, that human beings wage war so that they can get peace. No human being intends to engage in battle without cause. Order is the ultimate goal when there is war.
Thomas Aquinas ideology
Thomas believes that there is a relationship between faith and reason. According to him, God created man gave him the capacity to reason. The exceptional ability of man to reason is inherited from God, who made him in His image. Burrowing from Aristotle’s knowledge is acquired through sensory perceptions, and one has mystical powers to know things. Based on the proper interaction with the environment, human beings can synthesize learning and reason rationally hence making informed decisions.
Furthermore, he asserts that God is the source of our ability to perceive reality and Truth. They are given a chance and freedom to choose by God and those who decide to follow the teachings of God acquire a new set of beliefs. Therefore, Truth and faith are pure private nor subjective, and they are outside the mind. The Christian faith can be adjusted through listening o the sermons and trusting what people say on the gospel. The science of credibility can only explain some supernatural occurrences and miracles. The believers, through the disposal of God’s knowledge, can understand and believe that miracles are possible through faith.
The people with faith can understand the definitive Christ and the existence of the trinity through the literature available with the help of God hence embracing the Truth. Grace is sent to us by God because we are made in His likeness, and it helps an individual to be whole. Grace’s perfect fulfillment of an individual in understanding the Truth as was intended by God. The new loyalty and revelation that Christians get after being adopted by God are meant to guide them in understanding the world.
Aquinasʻ natural law
Aquinas, who is accredited with a massive volume of writings with the most notable piece being ʻSumma Theologica ʻ. In the 3500 pages book, he explores in-depth knowledge on the existence of God, and the book has served as a guide to the catholic church for decades.he is also accredited for his famous theory on natural law (Aquinas, 19). There are four distinct types of law under Aquinasʻs natural law theory. They include divine law, human law, eternal law, and natural law.
Eternal law refers to the Godʻs purpose as well as plans over all things on earth. “Word and inscription promulgate the law. And God Promulgate his eternal law in both ways since Word of God and the inscription of the predestined in the book of life are eternal” (Aquinas,7). According to him, eternal law will always exist because it is the mind of God and does not represent the decision of God at some point, either. Everything has a purpose, end, goal, or a function, and therefore, when something fulfills the condition of serving a plan or a service, then it has obeyed the eternal law. His teacher, Aristotle, share this claim. Something is good when it fulfills the intended plan or purpose . for a case in point, a nose is good when it smells well, and an eye is right when it can see correctly. For the instance of human beings, unlike objects and animals, a person is said to be right when they act concerning reason. On the contrary, they wrong when they work in a manner opposite of common sense. Natural law is observed when humans behave based on reason. The precept that guides the principle is that humans should cause strife to do good and avoid evil when they are making decisions.
Natural law is intrinsic, and most cases do not involve the external rules and guidelines formulated to be followed by human beings. The legislation generates standard guidelines that motivate the behavior of people and are accepted by anyone who is reasoning. There some basic expectations of human beings, according to Aquinas, that serve as precepts to this theory. For example, human beings should preserve and protect life, reproduce as well as educating their young ones, know and worship God, and finally, they should live in a society. The consistency of the precepts to most human beings makes them primary in align with reasoning.
Human law, on the other side, has secondary precepts, according to Aquinas, which refers to such conditions as not kidnapping people, wearing helmets on a bike, and not haking into a bank account. The circumstances under this law are external and hence are generated from government and groups among other institutions that involve human interactions. “There are no virtues whose actions cannot be ordained fo the common good, either directly or indirectly” (Aquinas, 56). The conditions under human law determine whether they inconsistency with natural law. If the rule that does not follow the tenets of natural law, then it is not worth pursuing. However, if the precepts are in line with natural law, they should be obeyed by human beings. Critically, Aquinas observed that there is no consistency in these precepts from one place to another. For instance, what applies in the UK may not be the case in the US, and the vice versa is true. Human beings are not talented in discovering the primary precepts of natural law. There is a need, therefore, to interact and talk with other people to find the real good. To understand the secondary doctrines, one needs to belong to a society. The more people interact, the ore they can certainly understand the plight of others, and it for the same reason that living in a community is regarded as a primary precept. Finally, the laws are divine law that aims at emphasizing the significance of God in existence. The three fundamental rules might make one think that there is no influence of God in their lives.
Divine law, like human law, is discovered through revelation. They are those who give to us by God like the ten commandments. God, through His grace, gave us these laws and are written the scripture. Devine law is there to guide humans when they are confused and mistaken for their weaknesses as human beings. For instance, people might find it hard to forgive other people when they wrong them, especially their enemies, because of the notion that people are entitled to grudges or being angry. Consequently, human beings can use happiness when they adhere to both Devine and human laws because they can fulfill their plans as well as their purposes in life. Aristotle centered on the claims of the existence of man but never appreciated the demands on God.
Conversely, Aquinas talked about God as a creator of everything on earth. God has power over all creatures in the world. Man is held with high esteem and has power other creatures, and God loves human beings so much that he led his only son to die for humanity. He also gives human reason to guide and direct human beings in doing the right thing (Aquinas, 11). The ten commandments among other orders written in the scriptures are the prescriptions to address and prohibit them from committing sins. Therefore believers in the word of God are virtuous if they adhere to the tenets of Christianity because the precepts that support Christianity are based on humane and just principles.
There is though one weakness that hinders Aquinas’s theory on addressing moral issues. For instance, human law is not consistent, and society is the sole determiner of the virtues and values considered desirable. In a case of abortion, a doctor in a place can decide to advise for abortion to be done, but another one may strongly be condemned based on where they are living. Therefore it cannot be justified who is right or wrong. Moral theory can serve as a remedy to guide people to think positively and determine what is right or wrong independently. Thoughtful reflections of human action, according to Aquinas, makes them respond appropriately (Aquinas, 38). There is convergence on ideas that people on specific issues despite their recommendations to interact mutually in a society. Some experts who could be consulted could be having a diverging opinion, which might be consistent with the societal norms and culture of the people. The hard realities like these make people o skeptical as they reason trying to be compatible with Divine as well as natural Laws.
People with goodwill would attempt to do the right thing that has moral appeal without being selfish in opting for their happiness at the expense of the welfare of others. The people with goodwill would follow without fear of punishment, but he peaceful coexistence that comes with an orderly environment. There no condition for goodwill to follow the law. The decree which is compatible with the requirements is a holy and perfect will. Then if someone acts out of duty, they act neither because they feel good by doing that nor they are benefiting from it. Working out of responsibility is respect for moral tenets that govern behavior. Therefore acting out of duty means questioning the laws while considering their irrationality and rationality before prescribing to them. The natural law implies the behavior of an individual. The practice of human beings is control and determined by the tenets by the requirements put forward by Aquinas because they act as rule and measure. The law creates a platform for morality and politics. T The principles of natural law are printed in the minds of the people. Therefore, vices are hindered by being subdued by the need to be upright.
Relationship of Aquinasʻ ideology with Aristotleʻs ideology
The literature that Aquinas borrowed purports that Truth is related to equality. Justice is not for everyone, but the equals. Based on his argument, democracy is limited in its scope because it tries to handle people who are not equal as though they equal. Justice, however, requires that people who are not equal be treated with inequality. The disparities, such as wealth, health, and birth, make people unequal. Politics, from his perspective, is defined by the common good for society. The people are said to be just if they contribute mainly to the community common good and are bound to receive the largest share as a reward for displaying a desirable political virtue. Therefore, political philosophy is an attempt by people to specify inequality equality amongst the population(Aquinas, 20). Justice should be proportional and numerical in fairness because the poor think that balance in one aspect translates to balance in everything, while the rich believe that inequality in one area should create disparities in all aspects of life.
Aristotle believes that citizens are equal because they are members of a state. Still, they are unequal in all the aspects such as financial stability and political virtue because economic might does not translate to moral nor mental acuity. He suggested equality based on merit, though, did not define what is merit in the context (Aquinas, 84). An ideal aristocratic state, according to his claim, should involve both intellectual and moral virtue. He argues that gender inequality is a natural phenomenon that cannot be changed as the inferiority in intellectuality, and morality translates to inadequacy in socio-political space. Some people were born to rule, while others were to rule for life, as suggested in his natural human inequality. People are marked to be either superior or inferior from birth. Men are naturally superior, and women are typically inferior and meant to be controlled. On the same note, he argued that non-Greeks are barbaric while Greeks can rationally think and are entitled to freedom.
Difference between Aquinas and Augustine moral perceptions
The two philosophers differ in what man should be saved from and why they should be kept in the first place. For instance, Augustine considers man as a helpless corpse, which requires the intervention of God. It is only the God Grace that can salvage him. Furthermore, man is blinked and is not a corpse according to the Aquinas perception. Man can reason with the help of natural law to access God even though they are fallen. Morality can be sought as a means of finding God because it is good and require goodness in his kingdom. Aquinas believes that God is responsible for the salvation of man in all the means. He sees the relationship between man’s nature and Grace of God as by through will. When a man cooperates and adopts the requirements for the grace, they will be saved. The man in this account has the option of choosing salvation and morality by doing good. On the contrary, Augustine believes that God wants people who only need to cooperate by having faith, and they have a guarantee of salvation.
Augustine and Aquinas have contributed hugely to the medieval and contemporary philosophy by making classical arguments of their heroes, Aristotle and Pilato, relevant later after generation. Augustine argues that there are two cities. Earthly City and the City of God. The two towns are differentiated by love, whereas the human City is composed of the citizens who are in love with the material desires of this world. They are propelled by the desire to acquire wealth, fame, and elongate their lives on earth. The push to gain these desires makes them compromise virtues and morals and can do all it takes, even if it involves killing, stealing, and other serious crimes. Earthly City is described by greed, murder, selfishness, suicide, extravagance, affluence, just to mention a few. There is moral decadence in such a city, and members cannot enter into the City of God. There is a life of eternity for the citizens in the City of God, and members who believe in the City follow the rules and regulations for the good of humanity because they do not endeavor to acquire worldly riches. They give up on the wars waged by the victors of the world to avoid confrontations that might result in their failure to enter the City of God. Some commit suicide to avoid being driven into the pursuit of this world, and when they are challenged by those hungry for fame and power in the world acquisitions, they give up without hesitation. Aquinas, who subscribed to the evidence of Aristotle, introduces God in his claims. Through his famous theory of Natural Law, where he claimed that there are types of laws under this, which include eternal law, Devine law, and human law. The law guides behavior by bringing forward the principles that recommend desirable mannerism for the common good. The law exists to protect the interest of the majority of human beings in society. The restrictions inserted by the precepts of the code form the basis of the expectations of human beings and shape the politic narratives