Evil and the Harmony of the World - Essay Example

Evil in St. Augustine’s Confessions All the religious philosophers were thinking about the essence of such fundamental categories as good and evil. If God is grace, the world is God’s creation, the question is why there is so much evil in the world and how and why God allows this. It is essential to consider how we should understand such phenomenon as evil: as just absence of good or something more. It is the question for discussion that is very relevant for all Christians. Since the time of St. Augustine there have been lots of hypothesizes (Bonner, 1986). St. Augustine created his own theory of good and evil and provided us with his unique explanation of the essence of these phenomena. He proposed many interesting arguments. This theme was important for Augustine as he was very sinful until realized the essence of God and religion. His theory is very valuable as it serves as the basis for Christian knowledge. However, as every theory, the ideas of Augustine is not fully accepted and actively criticized. The presence of good and evil in the world is obvious, but what are the relations between them? Many experts emphasize the conflict between good and evil. The main statement of St. Augustine is that evil is simply the absence of good. This presumption has a long history. It is a well known fact that St. Augustine was initially a Manichean and became Christian only after he realized the drawbacks of Persian Dualism religion- Manichaeism. The main idea of this religion lies in the belief in two gods, who represent good and evil. In this religion we can see the struggle between the light and darkness. St. Augustine scrutinized Christianity and rejected Manichaeism. He claimed that in this world there could be only one god, a good one. God and the world that he created are the main aspects of the philosophy of Augustine and the relations between them deserve special attention. Augustine argued that the world is the creation of God, God does not depend on the world and the world is fully dependent on God. Creating human soul, God initially incorporated in it the striving for happiness as the main goal in a man’s life. That is why a man must use all the abilities of his soul to achieve the happiness. Happiness itself consists in the maximum cognition of God and in this case the human reason becomes the main basis for belief. That is why belief is the foundation and the initial point for cognition. Cognition without the belief is sinful. The supreme form of cognition is divine inspiration given by God to humans, who have strong belief. This God’s wisdom can’t be understood by human reason. God gives inspiration to humans only by his own will. Striving for happiness, a man cognizes good and evil. God represents the good, but the question is what evil comes from as God can’t be the creator of evil. This problem was solved by Augustine: all the evil comes from the material nature. All the evil is a product of material body of humans. The first knowledge of Adam and Eve was the product of their cognition, of their material nature and this was a reason of their Fall. Humans were punished for making a fetish of their materiality, their body and after The Fall of the first people their offspring were doomed to death. “For other than this, that which really is I knew not; and was, as it were through sharpness of wit, persuaded to assent to foolish deceivers, when they asked me, “whence is evil?” “is God bounded by a bodily shape, and has hairs and nails?” “are they to be esteemed righteous who had many wives at once, and did kill men, and sacrifice living creatures?” (Book II) However, the substance itself and human’s body were created by God and consequently, they could not be the source of evil. Augustine comes to the conclusion that evil does not exist at all. Evil is weakened and corrupted good. Here the philosophy of St. Augustine is based on Platon’s theory about the ideas, which are present in material bodies, but can be corrupted by the substance. The same can be stated about good that is placed in human souls by God. It can’t be fully expressed as material body weakens it and prevent from expression: “At which I, in my ignorance, was much troubled, and departing from the truth, seemed to myself to be making towards it; because as yet I knew not that evil was nothing but a privation of good, until at last a thing ceases altogether to be; which how should I see, the sight of whose eyes reached only to bodies, and of my mind to a phantasm? (Book II) As a result Augustine comes to the rejection of material life as a whole. Material life of the people is a threshold of eternity. Based on such interpretation of the essence of the material life, St. Augustine forms the main conditions of human society existence. Augustine is sure that people must live in accordance with the rules which are created by God, not by them, because when a person lives according to his own rules, he is like a devil (Ferguson, 1998). The theory of Augustine was based on Holy Scripture. The whole world as the God’s Creation is a part of absolute goodness. Creating the world, God created its rules and order that a man should follow, However, every man has a temptation to violate these rules: "Let not those, whom I no longer fear, cry out against me, while I confess to Thee, my God, whatever my soul will, and acquiesce in the condemnation of my evil ways, that I may love Thy good ways. Let not either buyers or sellers of grammar-learning cry out against me” (Book 1). God incorporated sacred sense and holy image in every creation. That is why good can be found everywhere: in people, in nature. Evil does not exist separately, according to Augustine. It is not a separate force, it represents the absence of good like illness is the absence of health, nudity is the absence of clothes and darkness is the absence of light. Many experts consider Augustine’s attempt to relieve God from the responsibility for the world evil to be wrong. This can’t be called consolation for suffering person, but many philosophers wonders, whether a man can get to know the sense of good not knowing anything about evil: “To Thy grace I ascribe also whatsoever I have not done of evil; for what might I not have done, who even loved a sin for its own sake? Yea, all I confess to have been forgiven me; both what evils I committed by my own wilfulness, and what by Thy guidance I committed not” (Book II). The evaluation of good and evil in the world, the ways of their recognition, occupy an important place in St. Augustine’s theory. On the one hand, the world as God’s creation can’t be evil. On the other hand, the existence of good is evident. Defining the term “theodicy” or the protection of perfection, Augustine argued that evil does not belong to nature, but represents the product of free will “Hear, Lord, my prayer; let not my soul faint under Thy discipline, nor let me faint in confessing unto Thee all Thy mercies, whereby Thou hast drawn me out of all my most evil ways, that Thou mightest become a delight to me above all the allurements which I once pursued; that I may most entirely love Thee, and clasp Thy hand with all my affections, and Thou mayest yet rescue me from every temptation, even unto the end (Book 1)”. God made nature good, but it was spoiled by bad will. Here it is essential to mention another idea: evil is not opposed to good, it is just lack of good. There is no absolute evil, only good can be absolute (King, 2009). Evil is a result of bad actions, it is a refusal from supreme goals, because of arrogance or satiety. Arrogance is a product of refusal from God, satiety is a result of the passion for temporary things. The next argument of Augustine consists in the fact that evil does not violate the harmony of the world, but it is necessary for this harmony. The punishment of sinners does not contradict this harmony as well as the rewarding saints. Thus, Augustine does not reject the presence of evil in the world, but considers it to be something negative and the lack of good. According to St. Augustine’s ethics, the evil has another origination, it does not spring from good. It springs from men, while good is the product of God’s kindness. Men are responsible for evil, but not for good. Works Cited St. Augustine. The Confessions of St. Augustine. New York: Image Books. 1960 Bonner, G. St. Augustine of Hippo. Life and Controversies. Norwich: The Canterbury Press, 1986. King, Peter; Nathan Ballantyne. "Augustine on gTestimony". Canadian Journal of Philosophy 39 (2), 2009 Ferguson, Everett. Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, Taylor & Francis, p. 776, 1998 Read More