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Born in the city of Tagaste near the city of
Carthage (in modern day Algeria) in N.
Africa
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Christian mother (Monica)
Pagan father (Patricius, who ultimately adopts
Christianity)
Citizen of the Roman Empire
Christianity the official religion of the
Empire since the edit of Constantine (313ad)
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Educated in Carthage
 masters rhetoric
 rejects Christianity
 embraces sensuality
 Mistress & Adeodatus
 Accepts Manichæism
 two opposed fundamental forces for
good and evil (compare the four forces
of contemporary physics: weak; strong;
electromagnetic; gravity)
 conflict manifested in all things
 Explains the inevitability of human
moral failing and the existence of evil
2
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Becomes noted rhetorician
Moves to Rome as a teacher in 384
Meets and studies w. Ambrose in Milan
 rejects Manicheanism & accepts (neo)
platonism
 after intellectual struggle adopts
Christianity in 387
3
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Returns to N. Africa & becomes bishop of
Hippo
Writes extensively in philosophy and
theology
Recognized as a “Father of the Church”
Influenced much of medieval philosophy
and anticipates important ideas in modern
philosophy
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Distinguish knowledge of
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sensible particular (contingent) objects
nonsensible laws of science (or platonic forms)
 universality
 necessity
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Experience
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limited by space and time
results in knowledge of the sensible, contingent
particular
cannot produce knowledge of the universal and
necessary
We do have knowledge of the universal and
necessary. How?
6
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Trickster secretly tells Confederate the answers
to questions that Confederate could not
otherwise know
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e.g. “What are the four numbers written on the
paper hidden in my desk?”
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Trickster & Confederate publicly perform
their trick for Witness
 Trickster asks the question
 Confederate “miraculously” answers
correctly and amazes Witness
Witness concludes
 Confederate could not have known the
(hidden) answers through sensation
 Trickster must have informed (illumined)
Confederate
 That’s the only way Confederate could
have know the answers
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Confederate has knowledge beyond the
bounds of sensation
Only communication suffices to explain
Confederate’s knowledge
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Certainly, Confederate’s knowledge acquired & not
innate
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Thesis: the only way to explain how a person
can have knowledge of universal and necessary
scientific laws/forms is to hypothesize that
God informs or “illuminates” the person and
thereby gives that particular person knowledge
of the forms
Notice that Illumination involves
communication between God and particular
individuals
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Rejection of Platonic Nativism since knowledge of
the forms is not common to all persons
The process of illumination is unspecified
10
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Illumination is not innate because
knowledge of laws/forms is
differentially acquired during the
course of life
 different people learn different
science/forms at different times
 whereas innate knowledge is
common to all and inherent in all
throughout life
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Argument from Hierarchy
The universe is hierarchically organized, with
forms at the top and above people
Nothing can act upon anything higher in the
hierarchy
So, people cannot act on forms
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So, people cannot come to know the forms
by acting upon the forms through study
Nevertheless, some people do come to know
some forms
This knowledge must result from the action
of something at least as high in the hierarchy
as the forms
But nothing is higher than the forms
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Hence, it is the action of the forms upon
people that causes knowledge
Augustine holds that
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God = the forms
God is the summation of the forms
God is the self-knowing creator who creates the
universe by establishing (in matter) the forms
which exist as ideas in God’s mind
So, an individual’s knowledge of the forms
is the result of God’s communicating about
the forms with the individual knower.
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God’s communicating with a person is God’s
informing the person.
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To know a language is to know the
meaning of words in the language
Meaning distinguishes between coextensive properties
 contrast “triangular” & “trilateral”
A language learner cannot distinguish
co-extensive properties in experience
by ostention
So, meaning & language cannot be
learned experientially
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Since language is mastered differentially, it
is not innate but rather taught
The only possible teacher is God; it takes a
miracle = illumination (some nonsensory
process) to explain the acquisition of
language
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Some people learn scientific laws or forms with
full necessity and universality
Sensation alone cannot provide such
knowledge since it pertains only to the
particular
Sensation must be supplemented by the
universal principle of induction authorizing
inference from the particular to the general
Illumination must be the source of such
knowledge of the principle of induction
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If illumination is divine intervention,
why does learning require our effort and
work?
 why does God illumine evil people?
 what is the exact process of illumination?
 how do you know when you’ve been
illumined rather than deceived?
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The universe changes constantly
To change is to become something from what
was not
 e.g. if a leaf changes from green to red, it
becomes red from what was not, i.e. what was
not red
So, change requires that something come from
nothing, i.e. that something comes from what
was not.
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It is impossible under purely natural processes that
something come from nothing.
So, there must exist something – God – that never
changes and miraculously creates each momentary
stage of the changing universe from what was not =
nothing (ex nihilo).
To create ex nihilo is to create without using matter;
it is to create simply by decree, command or
thought.
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Since God creates the universe ex nihilo, God
is responsible for everything in the universe
– both good and bad
In creating the universe, God foresees or
knows the entire history of the universe in
full detail
So God knows everything that each person
does before he/she does it
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(i) By hypothesis, God is perfect =
benevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient
(ii) Assume: Evil exists
(iii) God created the universe ex nihilo
So, God is responsible for evil (assuming
evil exists)
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But if God is perfect, God could not be
responsible for evil
Now we have a contradiction =
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God is & is not responsible for evil
Contradictions are never true and arise in
arguments resulting from one or more false
assumptions
Hence, either (i), (ii), or (iii) must be false
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Augustine rejects (ii); he asserts that what
we take to be evil is really good
 Evil is illusory
 Recognition of evil is a fallible “theoretical
inference”, not observation!
 Recall: Is perception top down?
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Suffering is really a good thing
 it appears evil to us as an inference from
a false theory = ignorance of God’s
purpose in allowing it
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Immorality results when people freely
choose what, contrary to appearance, is
actually good yet not as good as what
they might otherwise have chosen
 immorality is really the lesser of two
goods, not the reality of evil
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In creating ex nihilo, God knows the entire career
of the universe
So, God knows every human action before it
occurs
What God knows shall occur must occur
So, every human action that does occur must
occur
What must occur is necessary
So, every human action is necessary
What is necessary is not free
So, no human action is free!
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All propositions are true or false
So, all propositions about the future are true or false
Consider all true propositions about the future
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These propositions now indicate what will happen
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the ones about you = your autobiography
your autobiography indicates all that you will ever do
If the propositions about the future are now true,
then what they indicate will happen must happen
So, what will happen, must happen
What must happen is necessary
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So, whatever will happen is necessary
Hence everything that will happen
according to your autobiography is
necessary
Whatever is necessary is not free
So, nothing in your autobiography is
free
Hence you are not free & neither is
anyone else
Human freedom is illusory
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Compatibilism maintains that freedom is
compatible with necessity
Augustine is a compatibilist: he maintains
that
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God’s omniscience or providence does indeed
imply that all human actions are necessary
But necessary actions may be voluntary
A person’s action is voluntary if the person acts
as she wants, decides or wills.
A free action is merely a voluntary action.
Hence a free action may be a necessary action
since voluntary actions may be necessary.
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Augustine holds that freedom is voluntary
action, even if the action is necessary
But, assume that you’re imprisoned &
cannot leave
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it is necessary that you stay
does your staying voluntarily make your staying
free?
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Augustine holds that freedom is voluntary
action, even if the action is necessary
But, voluntary actions require volitions
Are volitions themselves necessary?
If volitions are necessary, are voluntary
actions really free?
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