CHRISTIANISM AND AUGUSTINE PDF

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POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. UNIT 4

MIDDLE AGE PHILOSOPHY. CHRISTIANITY AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TALK ABOUT?

- Original mentality of the christian societies. - Evolution of christianity in Europe. - Tendency to absorbe political power to religious power. ______________________________________________________________________________

ORIGINAL MENTALITY. Christians were from the very beginning convinced: 1-Human being has a social nature — They agree with the Greek philosophy. Humans don’t have the capacity to live alone: Human being is social (we need each other). CONDITIONS FOR SOCIETY TO EXIST: 1-Existence of political institutions: We have to accept them. 2-Obedience to the authority — Accept subordination. It has to be accepted by everyone. *We have to obey the authority. 3-Every single civil authority exists because God’s accepted it. THE SOURCE OF POWER IS GOD. *There’s no authority without the acceptance of God. 4-New community must be based on love, and not on power.

*CHRISTIANS were not interested at all in POLITICAL POWER. “We don’t want political power” — It wasn’t the goal of the religion to control political power. Judaism was a religion that claimed for having political and religious power concentred in one hand — KING (was the anointed, the person in whose hands was the political and the religious power). -No single king believed in religions, as they knew that religions were political power.

WHY CHRISTIANITY CHANGED? Political power thought that with just one official religion it would be easier to rule society as they would share the same values — Christianity became the official religion. -It was because of the collapse of the Roman Empire: The only institution that still existed was the CHURCH.

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. UNIT 4

*It assumed political functions, as they were the only institution that survived from the barbarian conquer. The Pope became the most important authority.

Europe’s history = is from UNITY —> FRAGMENTATION.

For centuries there won’t be an alternative to political authority. After the Roman Empire we have the impression that we are facing chaos. The Church was the only institution that could resist the impact of the barbarians — The Pope as a symbolic figure of the continuity of the institution after the collapse. There was a dramatic tension in Rome: How to face future? Only when there is tension, there is philosophy: It is not the result of a well-balanced system.

FIRST PERIOD — Acceptance of political authority SECOND PERIOD — Papal Theocracy THIRD PERIOD — Back to separation of powers

We have the feeling that we are not what we should be — Sense of IMPERFECTION. *Incapacity of living in the right way. ________________________________________

AUGUSTINE. Notion of justice: -We are aware of a perfect justice. -It is impossible to implement it 1-PERFECT JUSTICE IS NOT REAL We are able to imagine what is perfect, but it is just an unreal thing. 2- PERFECT JUSTICE IS OUR COMMITMENT We have to do all what is possible to get closer and closer to perfect justice. The highest values should be an orientation to us — We are not able to implement there, but we have to do all what’s on our hands to get the closest we can.

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. UNIT 4

We know we are never going to be perfect persons (what we should be), but that doesn’t mean that we don’t make the effort to improve: We want to be the closest to this perfect person. I’m not perfect but I’ll do my best to improve.

HUMAN BEING IS CORRUPTED — Seduced by the desire of power. We have the criterio of knowing when we are wrong: When we feel hate in our heart. Corruption is the reason why history is characterized by a permanent conflict between europeans.

EDUCATION — The method to improve the society as the ancient philosophy believed. Augustine doesn’t agree — It is not a guarantee of moral improvement.

Only God (religion) can safe human being — Of violence, permanent conflict, desire of power… Spiritual transformation makes possible that the person changes.

The State has 3 main goals: 1-Preservation of a relative peace and order in society. There’s a contradiction between the world and peace — Political peace is a lie. There is no permanent peace in history — The most important substance in history is permanent war, permanent tension, permanent conflict.

There is no moral improvement in the world — That’s why he’s very moderate when conceiving the task of the political institution: They will make what is possible to preserve a certain peace. 2-Protect the Church -Augustine is corrupted and the Church is corrupted as well as the State — Augustine is expressing his corruption: He wants privileges. — Church is expressing his corruption. -The presence of the Church in history reminds to the human being why it is necessary their suffer. 3-Political law is necessarily imperfect. -There are many injustices that are not detected: They will never be detected. -Many times the criminals escape. -Impossible to restore justice. Revenge is a way of increasing injustice....