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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 5 page paper conpares the work of Plato to the development of a Christian philosophy by St. Augustine. Using the principles of Platonic reasoning, then, this paper shows how St. Augustine arrived at his conclusions in De Immortalitate Animae. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_MBphilaugtne.rtf
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of constant contemplation by many of the classical philosophers, including Plato and St. Augustine. But how much did they influence one another in the development of their own philosophies. In
the case of St. Augustine and Plato, quite a bit it would seem. De Immortalitate Animae demonstrates a direct influence of Platonism on the philosophy of Saint Aurelius Augustine.
Plato offered that knowledge is gained through several processes including that of intrinsic belief, perception, and logical reasoning. This, then, became the premise
for Platos theory of knowledge and formed the basis for his rejection of sensory perceived knowledge. Plato states that knowledge and perception are the same thing. For example, if one
believes something to be true, then for that person, that something is true. Therefore, one could say that perception is an integral part of knowledge.
It is this Platonic reasoning and belief that St. Augustine incorporates into his writings and philosophies as well. In his Theory of Knowledge section of
the Immortalitate Animae, he states that cognition draws its origin from illumination, and that illumination comes from God. Eternal truths are given to human intelligence by several means, such as
Wisdom, and the Word of God. Therefore, intellectual knowledge is not the result of the gathering of data by the intellect, but a participation or grant of God. Of
course, this would be where the line is drawn between Plato and St. Augustine in that Plato would not have attributed such great illumination to a deity.
What one can infer from the writings of Plato is that he was convinced that sensory perception gave a fairly inaccurate picture of the real
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