Must society be grounded in religion?

St Augustine, City of God

PHIL 1003, 2008-09

Overview

• Communitarianism of– Plato: community of women, children,

property– Aristotle: polis– Augustine: res publica and City of God

• They believe the whole—the community—is more than the sum of the parts

• Implications for today?

Who was St Augustine?

• b. 354-d. 430 C.E. N. Africa• Christian mother, pagan father• 373: adopts Manichean

religion• 375-87: teacher of rhetoric• 387: conversion to Christianity• 388 begins contemplative life• 391: establishes monastery,

ordination to priesthood• 395: Bishop of Hippo• 397: Confessions published• A “father of the Church”;

doctrine of original sin

Confessions

Autobiography

Statement of faith

Shows power of God to convert sinners

Confessions: Pre-Christian Phase

• “I went to Carthage, where I found myself in the midst of a hissing cauldron of lust….” (Confs., Bk III.1).

• “…I was also studying for the law. Such ambition was held to be honourable and I determined to succeed in it. The more unscrupulous I was, the greater my reputation was likely to be…” (Confs., Bk III.3).

• “…when I first read the Scriptures…they seemed quite unworthy of comparison with the stately prose of Cicero” (Confs., Bk III.5).

Manicheanism

• Proscribed (forbidden) sect• Dualist materialism • Eclectic: included Christianity and other religions • Based on false science, including astronomy

and astrology (Confs., Bk V.3-7)• Basic tenets

– evil and good are physical substances– body is corrupt;– Elect eat only vegetables filled with light in order to

purify their bodies.

Platonism

• Cicero’s Hortensius gave A. desire for “wisdom of eternal truth”;

• Yet he still “could imagine no kind of substance except such as is normally seen by the eye” (Confs., Bk VII.1);

• “books of the Platonists” opened him to the supersensible realm (Ideas, Forms) (Confs., Bk VII.9).

• Key to his acceptance of Christianity:– God is immaterial, incorruptible (like the Forms); this is true

reality– Good and evil are not embodied as Manichees believed.

Key theological ideas

• Problem of evil: where does it come from?– Manichean answer: from corrupt physical

elements: the body, certain foods– Christian (Aug.) answer: from misuse of free

will [but why do we misuse it?!]

• God is good and everything in us that is good comes from God (Confs., Bk I.20)

• Doctrine of original sin—even babies would sin if they could (Confs., Bk I.7)

City of God

A reply to the pagans

The pagan case against Christianity

• The Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the 3rd century C.E.

• Edict of Milan made Christianity legal (but not official) in 313 C.E.

• Constantine gave buildings, lands and privileges to the Church; baptized on his death bed (337 C.E.)

• Christianity spread widely in the army and cities• 391 Christianity becomes state religion• Pagans claimed that Christianity destroyed

Rome.

Augustine’s reply to the pagans

• Roman religion was polytheist; Christianity is monotheist;

• First charge: Roman gods did not assure their worshippers’ morals

• E.g. Obscene theatricals violate universal notion of respect for parents (2.4)

• Poets not allowed to slander men, but cast aspersions on the gods (2.14)

• Cites Plato’s expulsion of poets from his city in speech (2.14)

Augustine’s reply, cont.

• Romans’ morals corrupted for centuries;• Republic (BCE) supposed to be more moral than

the Empire; • But even late Republic corrupt (1st cent. BCE);• Pagans--Sallust, Cicero—admit this themselves; • So Roman gods must be to blame;• Yet pagans blame Christianity for a moral

decline that pre-dates Christianity (2.19)!

Augustine’s reply, cont.

• Cicero considers whether republic/city requires justice;

• “Republic” = “the affair of a people” (res publica, the “public thing”);

• A “people” = not just any grouping; • But “a fellowship united through a

consensus concerning right and a sharing of advantage” (2.21);– Like Aristotle’s polis!

Augustine claims that on this definition,

Rome was never a republic in the true sense.

Why?

• “…the republic never existed because true justice was never present in it”;

• “However…a certain sort of republic did exist, and it was directed better by the earlier Romans than by the later ones”;

• Because “true justice does not exist except in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ” (2.21, p. 21).

What is true justice?

• “The iniquitous institutions of human beings must not be said or thought to exist by right”;

• “…justice is that virtue which distributes to everyone his due. What sort of justice is it, then, that takes a man away from the true God and subjects him to unclean demons?”

• “…when a man does not serve God, what in him can…belong to justice?...the soul can in no way justly rule the body, or human reason the vices” (19.21).

Shared advantage

• “…”there is no advantage to any who live impiously, as do all who do not serve God” (19.21).

• “…the Romans have up to this point served evil and impure demons…”– e.g. Romans’ animal sacrifices were demonic

• “We ourselves—his city—are the best and most radiant sacrifice” (19.23).

Summation

“…justice exists when the one and supreme God rules his obedient city according to his grace” (19.23):– Soul commands body– Reason commands vices

(Aristotelian/Platonic).

Bishop Bossuet

Why it is better for a state to be pagan than atheist

Bishop Bossuet, 17th century

• Principles of religion even in pagan states– Athenians “adored [God] unknowingly” (193)– “tradition of divinity and sacrifice” (192)

• Certain principles allow for stability of pagan states– E.g. “sanctity of the oath” (193) guarantees treaties,

contracts, promises; makes business possible.• Oath “establishes the greatest possible security

among men” (194);• Does not have to be sworn by the one true God,

but only by the God one recognizes (194).

Question

• According to Book II, "true justice does not exist except in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ”;

• In Book XIX, "when not serving God, the soul can in no way justly rule the body, or human reason the vices...there is not any justice in such a man….“

• In modern societies, some cities/peoples are grounded in religion while some are not.

• Does this mean that some cities/peoples have no true justice?

• Do you agree that cities/people should be religious in order to be moral?

Further Questions

• What are some examples of modern societies that subscribe to Augustine’s views?

• Do you agree with Augustine that society should have a moral basis?

• Does the moral basis have to be religious in character?

• Or could it have another basis?