St. Augustine’s Ethics: A Summary and Analysis of His Moral Philosophy

© by Jensen DG. Mañebog/MyInfoBasket.com

Considering all the elements of St. Augustine’s ethical philosophy, it is hard to identify where this famous Medieval philosopher fits into the usual classification of types of ethicist.

Being a theologian, he is unsurprisingly classified by some as a ‘divine-command theorist’ and a ‘natural law theorist.’ But he can be a ‘virtue ethicist’ too for advocating the Greek and Christian virtues. In promoting happiness as the supposed end of actions, he can be classified as a ‘consequentialist.’

Somehow he suggested that we have the right to peace (on ‘Just War’) and it is our duty not to intend to deceive anyone (‘On lying’), hence he can be considered a deontologist. Giving much emphasis on love, he can also be considered as the progenitor of today’s ‘situation ethics.’ Augustine’s one contribution to the study of morality therefore is his apparent suggestion that we should not attempt to do ethics without all of these concepts.

One of his accomplishments is the systematization of Christian ethics, by giving the Greek’s eudaimonisticmoral philosophy a theological substance. Ethicsfor him is the enjoyment of God, and virtuously living on earth has significance not only to earthly existence but also in the so-called afterlife. He believes that virtues themselves are God’s grace, and founded on love, not on the self-assigned ends or wisdom cherished by philosophers.

Whereas ancient philosophers’ ethics are self-centered and tend to stress the cognitive side of man’s nature, Augustine’s philosophy, especially the ‘double love’ command pronounces the moral importance of charity and loving one’s neighbors. For him, moral deeds and virtues should be understood in terms of relationship to others and to God.

By defining divine virtue as ‘the art of living well and rightly’, he also made ethically active man’s love of God. To love God therefore is not just to emotionally love Him but also to desire to live virtuously according to His will.

Some find commendable also is Augustine’s view of everything having respective place or rank in a hierarchy and his corresponding doctrine to put premium on things with great values, and less importance on those with little worth. Applicably, it endorses the wise and practical dictum, ‘first thing first’.

His notion on man’s natural inevitability to sin and the resultant gravity of its punishment may be viewed as gloomy and pessimistic.

Nonetheless, his doctrine on divine grace is said to offer hope and inspiration to believers. Moreover, in teaching that moral conversion must transform us not only in our preferences and deeds but principally in our values, intentions, and desires, Augustine has in effect taught that leading a new life must not be superficial and that spiritual transformation must be deep-rooted.

In equating sin with ill intention, however, Augustine seems to fail to account for the essential difference between “intending a bad act” and “actually doing it.” Against his theory, one can argue that somebody who desired a wicked act but has controlled himself not to do it is morally better than another who intended and, in fact, performed the bad deed … continue reading: Augustine of Hippo: The Ethics of the Greatest Medieval Philosopher

© 2013-present by Jensen DG. Mañebog/MyInfoBasket.com

Also Check Out: From Socrates to Mill: An Analysis of Prominent Ethical Theories, also by author Jensen DG. Mañebog