St.

Augustine
(354-430 CE)
St.Augustine
(354-430 CE)
“Man is a great mystery”
He wonders that there is in man which cannot be
understood as a part of the world as a thing among
things. The certainty in human knowledge (the existence
of God as love) on which we may absolutely rely and
disclose one’s immediate awareness of oneself.
St.Augustine
(354-430 CE)
He enthusiastically adopted Plato’s vision of a
bifurcated universe in which “there are two
realms, an intelligible realm where truth
itself dwells, and this sensible world which
we perceive by sight and touch,” but then
adapted this metaphysic to Christian beliefs.
Thus, Plato’s ultimate reality, the eternal realm
of the Forms, became in Augustine’s
philosophy a transcendent God.
St.Augustine
(354-430 CE)
He developed the Platonic idea of the
rational soul into a Christian view in which
humans are essentially souls, using their
bodies as a means to achieve their spiritual
ends. The ultimate objective
remains happiness, as in Greek ethics, but
Augustine conceived of happiness as
consisting of the union of the soul with God
after the body has died.
St.Augustine
(354-430 CE)
Follows the idea that God encompassess us all,
that everything will be better if we are with
God

Everything is better if we devote ourselves in

mending our relationship with God

For a Christian, wisdom and happiness can be

obtained only through love of God and faith in
Jesus Christ as the Saviour.
St.Augustine
(354-430 CE)
What was imperfectly perceived as God in
Plato’s and Aristotle’s concept of the absolute
and immutable good, the “Summum
Bonum”(a Latin expression meaning "the highest
good“), is now seen by Augustine with the aid
of the light of divine revelation as the living
personal God, the creator of all things, the
supreme ruler of the universe. So, the idea of
the Good of Plato is revealed, to Augustine as
the living reality, God.
St.Augustine
(354-430 CE)

What then is God?

Augustine answers the question with the
words of the Scriptures that God is love; and
since according to Plato, Morality consist in the
constant imitation of the divine model,
Augustine following his great predecessor and
educator, teaches that morality consists in
love since it is love that makes us like unto
Love (God).
St.Augustine
(354-430 CE)

“We need to establish

relationship with God
through being virtuous”
St.Augustine
(354-430 CE)

Life to Augustine is a dialectic

movement towards love.
Virtue, which is the art of living rightly and
well, has been defined by Augustine as ‘the
order of love’. A virtuous life is a dynamism
of the will which is towards love, while a
wicked life is a constant turning away from
love.
St.Augustine
(354-430 CE)
To love God means necessarily to love
one’s fellowmen and to love one’s
fellowmen means never to do harm to
another or as the golden principle of
justice requires, to do unto others as
you would others do unto you. Love
and justice, the two foundation stones of
individual as well as social ethics.
René Descartes
(354-430 CE)
René Descartes
(1596-1650 CE)

Cogito, ergo sum,

(Latin: “I think, therefore I am)
René Descartes
(1596-1650 CE)
His Metaphysical Dualism is the
philosophy of one who believes
that ultimate reality is that a
person is composed exclusively of
two entities. These two basic
substances are mind and
matter/body.
René Descartes
(1596-1650 CE)
Mind (Thinks and question or doubt
what the body has experienced)

Body (perceives from the different

senses)
René Descartes
(1596-1650 CE)
He argues that the nature of the
mind (that is, a thinking, non-
extended thing) is completely
different from that of the body
(that is, an extended, non-thinking
thing), and it is possible for one to
exist without the other.
René Descartes
(1596-1650 CE)
The mind and body are opposite
in nature but are inseparable.
They act upon each other Man has an ability to think
and act but he cannot do it without a body. Likewise,
body is not just like a tool in a mechanical principle like
chair for example for it is also me for I cannot separate
myself from it. When you encounter my mind, it is
already me that you are encountering, so I am my body
and my mind, but these two are still distinct from each
other.
René Descartes
(1596-1650 CE)
He doubts the existence of his
own physical body.
The existence of his own body is
not the proof that he exists, but
rather the mere fact the he doubt is
the proof the he exists.
René Descartes
(1596-1650 CE)
His maxim “I Think, therefore I
am” emphasizes the
consciousness of his mind leads to
an evidence of one’s existence
despite the belief that everything is
to be doubted.
René Descartes
(1596-1650 CE)
That the essence of man’s existence
lay in being a purely thinking
being because even if he can doubt
whether he has real body or it’s
just a trick of his senses, one thing
he cannot doubt is that he is
thinking.
René Descartes
(1596-1650 CE)
That the essence of man’s existence
lay in being a purely thinking
being because even if he can doubt
whether he has real body or it’s
just a trick of his senses, one thing
he cannot doubt is that he is
thinking.