Augustine and Aquinas Justification of Social and Political Ruling - Essay Example

AA264092 Augustine and Aquinas' Justification of the exercise of social and political ruling Augustine was born at Thagaste at Roman province ofAfrica on 13th November 354. His mother was a Christian but his father was not. It is also said that he was not baptized as child. He started writing the De civitate Dei or The City of God in 410 after Alaric and vandals sacked Rome. He began the book to defend claims that since Romans have adopted new faith, the Christianity so the Roam has fell as old Gods no longer protected it. His theme is based on his belief that the society is made up of angels and man. The angels are good while man is self-centered and wicked. Though the god has created both but they have different wills and desires (Book XII ). Thomas Aquinas was born in southern Italy in 1225. He was greatly influenced by Aristotle whom he called, the Philosopher. He began his main socio- political work, Summa theologie in 1266. Aquinas, though never contradictory to Augustine, presented a soft and optimistic view of human governance of its affairs. Clearly Influenced by Aristotle's philosophy Aquinas attempted recovery of Aristotle in the west. He has presented a milder and more optimistic theory which does not show intolerance of Augustine's stringent unworthiness of the worldly affairs. Aquinas did not find anything wrong with the Aristotle's humane, rational and ordered world. For him the interest of this world and the next can coexist and it is the duty of every individual to make best of the both these worlds. He respects Augustine's other world or heaven but do not find anything inappropriate in attaining this world's goods and achieving that world's bounties as and when time comes. He, however, emphasized that the meaningful existence in the former should lead to get entry in the latter. More than once the reader is forced to analyze Aquinas' effort stating forcefully as to why one should abandon the present living and think of divine and also his treatment to duty and philosophy as separate entities. Aquinas is highly inspired by Aristotle's famous maxim 'men is by nature a political animal' or Man is a social and political animal (4-6). The simple and comparative explanation clarifies Aquinas' thinking Animals are provided for their defense and food by the nature while man is not. Animals have thick and dense hairs to withstand harsh weather. Animals also have claws, long and sharp teeth to scare away or destroy their enemies. The food for survival is available in plenty for animals. Man lacks these facilities in him but is given power to reason to get these for his existence. But for that the man has to live in companionship with other fellow human. The communication and reason enable man to live in a society with others of his tribe. Augustine's neoplatinism does not believe in earthly politics. His duty is to please the divine and be a citizen of heavenly city. He stated that rules of such a society viz. prohibition and command are counterproductive since these increase desire to break the rule and indulged in sinful deeds (City of God, XIII:6). Augustine elaborated that social structure or governance may be indispensable to the well being but not for preservation, of members of society, nevertheless, it was hardly a noble phenomenon or an appropriate object of devotion. According to Augustine the governance led to increase in selfish interest and blocked the vision to attain true and greater good e.g. salvation to the city of god. Aquinas favors governance that since a societal living is necessary for orderly existence there should be some management or governance of society. Augustine also contradicts Aquinas views on society of men and its collective efforts to own nature's free bounties or snatch these from animals by using his ability to reason and communicate. He prefers that it should be equally available to man and animal and whosoever gets it first should be allowed to have judiciously since that is divine law. Augustine's views show extreme disliking for the coercion of any kind. It is to be cleared that when Augustine stated, 'man should not rule man but the beast, he did not refer to man and animal but the instincts of man prompting him to overpower others and bring them to under his dominion. It is in book XI that he mentions two cities the earthly which is self rule of man while other heavenly with the divine rule of god( City of God, XIV:1). Augustine advice the society to be ruled by a divine law and not by rule of man. Since rule of man is limited to few greeds and sins to please while rule of god is vast, universal which has everything for every one. Thus he clarified that man looks for only the immediate, the mundane good while sacrificing the true good( City of God, XIV:11.) Aquinas strongly feels that the rule of man over man is human rule and secures earth's well being. The human rule does not interfere with divine rule. Unbelievers can rule over believers provided they respect their faith and here the secularism is clearly reflected in Aquinas thinking. Men need to cooperate in securing fruits of division of labour. Well being of the earth is not merely for physical or economic attainments. Aquinas believes in a single king system. He explains it to be most feasible system of governance since human do believe in one supreme power be it god that rules over the universe or the heart in our body that rules over all other limbs. Aquinas expect the king to work in public interest and punish the wicked An ordered and cooperative life is full of happiness and virtue and obedience is a virtue willed by the divine.(57).. He may sound authoritarian though, today. But if the king becomes a tyrant people need not obey him or suffer him instead take action against him (145). However Aquinas does not elaborate what action he suggest to a tyrant ruler. But In one instance he approved killing of Julius Caesar stating his tyranny was insufferable (72). He had shown amazingly rational and judicious view stating that a tyrannical king can be punished by those only who have position and quality to be better king or are those representing some oppressed community. He also advice to tolerate mild tyranny (17, 250) probably realized well that to rule well a little coercion is indispensable. Augustine on the other hand contradicted Aquinas advice on punishing a tyrant since Augustine believed that a tyrant has also came through the divine route and is here to punish sinners. We should suffer him silently without resisting, he said. Government came into existence since man has fallen or sinned. It is greed where one man wants to dominate other. Moreover, he held no illusions regarding the essence of political authority-coerciveness. Coercive rule was, for him, a necessary aspect of human existence but certainly not one worthy of reverence. Augustine had acknowledged the existence of political order by accepting the governance of state as he presents the four essential elements of his philosophy in The City of God. These are the church, the state, heavenly City , and the earthly city. The church is divinely established and leads humankind to eternal goodness, which is God. The state adheres to the virtues of politics and of the mind, formulating a political community. Both of these societies are visible and seek to do good. Mirroring these are two invisible societies: the City of Heaven, for those predestined for salvation, and the City of the World, for those given eternal damnation (City of God, XIX:11.;City of God, XIV:1). This grand design allows Augustine to elaborate his theory of justice, which he says issues from the proper and just sharing of those things necessary for life, just as God freely distributes air, water, and light. Humankind must therefore pursue the City of Heaven to maintain a proper sense of order, which in turn leads to true peace. Here Augustine shows some confusion since he has called that the governance originated from sins of men. Yet in the rule of state he softens towards the politics and finds in it a way to discipline the man and guide him to god. Such change of views had occurred in Augustine's writings often. It seems Augustine had taken contemporary views and presented what influence him at the time of writing. Nevertheless, The writer of justice and lord of universe for him remained the god as he reasserted and waited for the new world the world of Christian Platonist to come and ignored the present world. Augustine believed that individual is either aligned with earth or heaven these alignment being mutually exclusive and cannot come together ( City of God, XIX:11). Augustine's thought were based on philosophical upgradation of man and they had little to do with the day to day existence of an ordinary mortal. Aquinas On the other hand was not peeved at existence as human being. He may have given a little more importance to man than the other kind of living beings in the world and may have even shown a suppressed desire that since man possess intellect he should be considered superior to other living forms of life. Thus he does not link private property to sin since that way it would be better managed and nature's resources would be used by the communities for longer time without these being depleted (220). Aquinas' possession of private property is different from today's concept, though. He does not mean acquiring property for unlimited personal right and use. While Augustine believed that all things are common like air, water, light and other nature's bounties and should remain so without any intervention by the man to limit these in any way by possession etc. To conclude the discussion a simplified explanation of the view presented above is needed. To a common reader Augustine's condemnation of human life may seem disappointing. However, it is to be considered at little more depth. Augustine propels man discover and develop his spiritual side using his mental capabilities to its fullest. He meant to communicate that human being remain so engrossed in their mundane wordly affairs that they do not fully realize their worth and die without unfolding the mystery of their being. The view must have come to Augustine's thinking when he saw the war, conflicts and other vices of human life. He is forcing man to discover the knowledge within since inside you there are more precious things than what you are wasting your life for. Aquinas, on the hand, is very prim and proper person who lives in present and makes all efforts to make this present most congenial for stay. He may though lacked the absolute philosophical outlook. His views about single king governance are relevant even today. His belief in the societal structure and superiority of human compared to other forms of life is guided by reason. However, Augustine does not allow mixing of good with bad, as for him good is always good while bad is never good and that they reside in two different cities. Aquinas permission of possession of property and punishing a tyrant king may induce illicit use of these powers in future. In fact, both the great thinkers have different themes in their writings. Aquinas examines the life on the earth closely while Augustine believes in searching inside so actually they are not comparable. Augustine and Aquinas offer new things every time one reads them and both are great in their own way. REFERENCES Coleman, R.G. and Quentin Skinner, R.T. (2000). Aquinas: Political Writings, by Cambridge University Press, 2000 Augustine, Dods, M. and Merton, T. (2000). The City of God, Modern Library Read More