A good life according to Saint Augustine - Essay Example

here wealth and power are believed to be symbols of a good life, do everything in our power to acquire them and secure them in our lives but in doing so the line that distinguishes good from evil blurs and raises questions inquiring into the validity of condemning all evil acts that are executed to achieve a good cause. Queries also arise concerning the nature of happiness attained from such acts and whether this happiness is actually what we need for a good life. “All wicked people, just like good people, desire to live without fear.

The difference is that the good, in desiring this, turn their love away from things that cannot be possessed without the fear of losing them. The wicked on the other hand, try to get rid of anything that prevents them from enjoying things securely.” (Augustine pg 7-8) Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, in the above reference, significantly clarifies an important basis for the argument he has presented in his book “On the Free Choice of the Will” i.e. the choice given to human beings to choose right over wrong and do good over evil as a system to judge what acts are condemnable and what not.

However despite this apparent freedom, we often feel compelled to practice certain acts that are otherwise considered evil, in order to achieve a desired good. In that sense and in the absence of the justification that the law humans create condemns rightly only acts that are evils, an exemplary murder of his master by a slave who wishes to live without fear is perceived as a good rather than the evil it is commonly taken to be. (Augustine pg 6 -7) However our inner sense of justice signals that such a perception is not right and may create havoc in society as all evil acts may be traced to the satisfaction of one desire or the other, all of which promise to the individual a life of happiness, security and comfort.

Thus the initially simple question of whether free will is a good or evil has brought the reader to challenge everything