Aristotle and Augustine: How to Live a Good Life - Free Essay Sample

Introduction

St. Augustine and Aristotle have a unique view on how human can attain a good life. Aristotle, in his book, claims that virtue and useful life are inseparable, and morality is the only way to achieve a good life. At the same time, Augustine, in his book city of God claims that the only way to attain God life is through fulfilling God's will since human is imperfect and cannot lead a perfect life. Despite their difference in the concept of human understanding, several aspects are similar to their view on human perception. The purpose of chapter one of this essay o is to analyze compare between the two philosophers view on human life.

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Plato

As a dualist, Plato believed that humans are composed of two substances, immaterial mind, and a material body. As a biologist, he acknowledges that living things, including humans, plants, and non- human animals. He claims that plants have a vegetative structure as a way of functioning. In contrast, non- human animals have both vegetative and sensitive structure that employs senses to relate to the surrounding and initiates needs. Whereas, human-animal incorporates a rational structure on top of the vegetative and responsive structure. A logical sense makes human-animal very distinctive. Therefore, the structure of something which does not exist freely; it is not an entity itself.

Instead, it is a particular pattern or form of a thing that defines how it exists and operates. Hence, Aristotle urges that there no sense discussing soul or mind in the absence of a body, for the essence of an individual is rooted and intertwined with their matter. Aristotle seems to have adhered to Plato's line of reasoning in supposing that the part of the soul able to think reasonable, which he named nous, is eternal. Like Aristotle, St. Augustine emphasizes the importance of the soul. St Augustine adds that view reason as a gift from God to human beings, which they can use to lead a happy life.

Eudaimonia

The term eudaimonia best articulates Aristotle's argument regarding the concept of good for human beings. These terms, when translated, means happiness, comprising both the element of accordingly and faring well. Aristotle's utilizes this terminology to reflect the strong Greek sense that happiness and virtue cannot be separated. St. Augustine's ethical stand is as eudemonistic as any in classical Greek. Thus both philosophers agree that all humans long and strive for happiness. However, they differ in an idea of ways to achieve this happiness.

Virtue (arête) is in terms of the human deed. Some of the traits that are virtue are integrity, honesty, generosity, and courage. Virtue ethics is divided into two segments: eudaimonia (the uppermost good a human can accomplish). And the actual virtues (arête) with which human can achieve eudaimonia. In The Nicomachean Ethics book, Aristotle discusses how pleasure appears to be the eventual goals towards which all the humans are chasing. He asserts that the key to contentment is a virtue since virtue is in line with human rationality. Aristotle claimed humans attain minor states of happiness through fame, money, or power, but the ultimate happiness can only be achieved through virtue. As one of the virtue theorists, Aristotle believed that if humans focus on being righteous individuals, the right actions will follow; this means that the individuals with the right traits tend to make the correct decisions.

Nature of Things

On the contrary, St. Augustine gives a thought to questions of the nature of time, evil, human freedom, the soul, and human psychology to suggest how to attain a good life. While pondering those questions, he avoids as much as possible to subscribe to the ideology of Stoicism and Epicureanism. He agrees that human's ultimate happiness cannot be the human person's mere perfection, such as that obtained through virtue but instead in a distinct sort of union, with GodGod's death.

St. Augustine believed in the significance of goodwill, personal freedom, and the desire for proper internal motivation, ascending by a human longing to love God, the right living principle. Augustine claims that one who loves God’s will behave in an act in total agreement with all the principles of the moral law, and the love of God hence is the force behind all good, righteous deeds. Somehow, both Aristotle and Augustine link virtue and good deeds and conclude that goodness leads to a good life. However, morality in Aristotle's understanding of human nature originates from thinking upright, but Augustine claims virtue comes from God and follows His will. On top of that, Aristotle believes that pain and pleasure are an essential guide to influence the merits; the sign of the honourable individual is that they know how to choose between pain and pleasure. It is an issue of virtue encompassing choice that makes it precise that virtue cannot be either faculty or desire. According to Aristotle, humans have capabilities by nature, but nature has no power to make us good or bad.

Good life in Aristotle's argument is linked to political science to explain how human beings achieve a good experience in society. Political science is concerned with the practical science of human contentment. The Ethics illustrates what kind and style are mandatory to happiness; the political explores what particular forms of constitutions are vital to make to lead a good life. He finds the pertinent meaning of the concept of good in the study of human nature. In his theory of the conduct understanding of things in human beings in terms of the goal they want to achieve and the purpose they were created to fulfil. Aristotle asserts that the community's good requires that perform his/ her responsibility; he takes almost the opposite stand on everything else that Augustine argues on political life. Aristotle's reasoning point that politics is the only aim that humanity aims since the fulfilment of human nature lie at the political sphere where rational approach god-like status through the soul's logical activity. Politics gives a human chance to exercise thinking, the very thing that offers supremacy to humankind, and it is clear that Aristotle suggests that political life is the most effective way to achieve a pleasant experience.

Critique of Aristotle and Augustine's Perspectives on Political Life

However, this view is against one of St. Augustine's main points that politics life attains human nature and pushes humans closer to spirituality. To oppose this view, analysis in depth the problem of such a life represents. His first argument is that natural human is ignorance of the hearts of others. He back his point by pondering on a question on how awful it is when an innocent person is torture to retrieve information in a case that he is not involved. He concludes on his meditation question by saying that though such things may not matter on the philosopher's conscience- judge since he knows his intention is clear. St Augustine condemns the action by saying, "surely his cannot be the ‘happy life’ even though his philosophy may save him from a sense of wrongdoing". Nonetheless, our philosopher-judge takes daily to carry this obligation because while “he cannot get at the truth, yet the good of society demands that he hand down decisions."

Aristotle would support the actions of the judge. According to Aristotle, the good society requires every citizen to perform his/ her job accordingly. Hence, community anticipates that a judge performs his functions. From the above argument of the two, one can conclude that it Aristotle campaigns for the idea that a political life offers humans a chance to attain human nature and that a life of philosophy worsts such function. On the other side, Augustine claims that politics is utility and have no place in the city of God. Besides, a political entity is equated to that life of a plumber or a sanitation worker. Further, Augustine, rather than believing in political life as the highest hierarchy that can help humans attain good life, he instead believes in a natural order, where God and angels are above humans and are the ones in control of all creations and order in the universe. God is the only one who can help human beings achieve a real good life through His grace.

According to Aristotle, when it comes to matters of citizenship, he names human being as political animals—naming a human being as a political animal has far-reaching consequences. On top of other responsibility, a human being is more significantly recognized as a citizen. As a citizen of a good society, fulfilling good for the community. Thus, the requirements of an excellent citizen from society to society; however, the general criteria for measuring goodness in a citizen is placing others needs above one's needs. In doing so, an individual shows the virtue of legal justice, whereas all of his actions are considered in one approach to the common good of his specific society. The idea of placing other people needs above one’s need is also supported by Augustine when discussing the requirement of a good citizen.

When it gets too political works in a peaceful environment, the only correct answer as per St. Augustine is that God, the only supreme authority leads an “obedient city” and the citizens are under his governance. It is by harmonic works of charity, love, and goodwill, which the mechanisms of a Christian- based republic are, expected to behave. According to St. Augustine human being are imperfect. Hence the lure of power frequently corrupts when done for self- alone and not for the good of the commonweal. Submission to God is the ideal in terms of political rule as mentioned to be St. Augustine, and though hard to obtain, the determination should be made in earnest.

I agree with Aristotle view on the role of a citizen to help the government achieve its objective. Back to Augustine's perception, he should not be hasty in dismissing political life as being firm of utility and cause of fall of man; as he depends mainly on comparison and metaphor in other places in the City of God. Reflecting on several occasion all over this work, especially Augustine compares worldly city to the heavenly city. In particular, those incidences where he does not utter that they are different. For example, it appears to be St. Augustine’s perception that there is something good about the security human find in worldly cities since it is similar in heaven city. Similarly, why should it be the event that political life is viewed to lack any kind of dignity and to be more desired any other life, when it so evidently offers purpose to reveal on truth and rationality provide a chance to consider the form of rule that God has over humanity?

Conclusion

It is a fact that political life offers itself to mirror on justice and truth, and even to dedication to God as in the event of the judge, which to my opinion deserve more credit than other approaches to God-life. Most lifestyle is in such a manner that they give themselves to those elements mentioned, but few of them give themselves to it freely. Due to this nature, it appears as yet is something intrinsic on the political life where humans discover their work to depict work of God.

Bibliography

Augustine, Walsh, G. G., Zema, D. B., Monahan, G., & Honan, D. J. (1958). City of god. Garden City, NY: Image Books.

Breyfogle, Todd. "Citizenship and Signs: Rethinking Augustine on the Two Cities." A companion to Greek and Roman political thought (2009).
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/view doc/download?doi=10.1.1.663.4525&rep=rep1&type=pdf.

Francis, Prudence Mary. "On becoming virtuous: A life examined through the prism of Aristotle and Aquinas." PhD diss., Curtin University, 2013.