Always striving for wisdom and even more for the truth, Augustine of Hippo went through several experiences philosophical, from its rationalist materialism, through skepticism, to its replacement by a spiritualist. However, he never denied the existence of God. These experiences made the Christian philosopher mature a lot, including with regard to the Holy Scriptures, which he began to understand in a more significant and profound way.
In principle, Augustine had joined the Manichean sect, a Persian doctrine that preached the existence of two equivalent poles and in permanent struggle in the universe: the Well it's the Bad. Note that according to this way of thinking, in addition to existing, that is, having concrete realities, these elements have the same value or the same strength. Thus, the Christians represented the adepts of Good and the pagans and barbarians, those of Evil.
However, it was in Neoplatonism that Augustine realized the existence of incorporeal things, reorienting his search in a transcendent sense. According to Plato's interpretations, Evil does not exist as an entity, only Good as an ontological idea par excellence. Evil is not a reality, it is an erroneous judgment and an act of ignorance. From there, Augustine found that all things are good, because they are works of God and that Evil is the fault of the way we use the
free will. But he also found that everyone seeks happiness and the Good (thoughts similar to Socrates!). Here, then, is the problem: how to recognize the Good and the happiness? Augustine found, therefore, that happiness is only found in God, the Supreme Good, and that we have this knowledge in our depths, in a confused way.In this way, Augustine establishes an order of perfection, a gradation or distinction of beings to reach this knowledge that would lead us to a blessed life. The body is mortal and the soul is its life principle. This distinction goes from inanimate beings and goes through plants, animals and man. But it doesn't end here. Above reason (man's) there are still truths that do not depend on subjectivity, as its laws are universal and necessary: mathematics, aesthetics and morals. Only above these is God, who creates, orders and makes their knowledge possible, which must now be sought in man's interiority.
In that order and by a process of interiorization and search, one can find these truths because Augustine admits that God light up, being they already previously in our spirit. The doctrine of Enlightenment divine is characterized by a light that is not material and that is reached when encountering the knowledge of the truth so that man can have a happy and blessed life. Remembering this, that is, remembering previous knowledge, is what the philosopher/theologian calls remembrance of God (inheritance from the theory of Platonic reminiscence).
Augustine was, therefore, very important for the consolidation of the Church. This is because at a time of crisis over divergent positions, his thought highlighted the need to reconcile reason and faith, using philosophy as an instrument that clarified or explained man's relationship with God, even though it should prevail in this the faith. Also because it aided the Church's interests in converting the pagans rather than fighting them, increasing the number of propagators of the faith. And so, with relative stability, the Church could expand even further, seeking its ideal of universality and community in Christ.
By João Francisco P. Cabral
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU
Master's student in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Philosophy - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/filosofia/teoria-iluminacao-natural-santo-agostinho.htm
