Augustine and Roman Virtue by Harding Brian;

Author:Harding, Brian;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2019-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Augustine’s Critique of Roman Philosophical Virtue

1. Philosophy and the Desire for Glory

To speak of Augustine’s ‘critique of philosophy’ is not to suggest a critique of the attempt to develop metaphysical or epistemological theories, nor should it be taken to suggest that Augustine inhabits some place outside of philosophy taking, as it were, pot shots at it. Augustine’s very language testifies to the fact that he understands his criticisms of ancient philosophy as philosophical: he describes Christianity as he understands it not as ‘faith’ or even ‘theology’ but as ‘true philosophy’ or ‘our philosophy’; when he speaks of philosophy simpliciter he is typically referring to his opponents. This terminology should not cause consternation: we can only expect that Augustine will think of his philosophy as the true philosophy just as much as we would expect Cato to think of Stoicism as the true philosophy. This already suggests that for Augustine the most salient difference between Christianity and the ‘other philosophies’ is not faith versus reason but rather the true versus the false. In what follows, however, I will more-or-less follow Augustine’s usage, such that when the word ‘philosophy’ appears I mean ‘pagan philosophy’.1 Augustine argues that these philosophies are false insofar as they promise a happiness that they cannot provide: to show this, Augustine develops in book 19 a philosophical critique of the conception of philosophy, common to philosophic schools of late antiquity, as a path towards complete human happiness. Augustine is critiquing philosophy conceived of as an activity offering some sort of ‘salvation’ wherein one could, through wisdom, save oneself. If Augustine’s critique is successful, then a reconception of philosophy is demanded. This rethinking of philosophy constitutes the fundamental problem of medieval philosophy: what purpose does philosophy serve when stripped of the originally eudemonistic context.

Nevertheless, despite his distaste for eudemonistic claims, Augustine would not approve of a purely theoretical ‘armchair’ quest for knowledge stripped of its eudemonological component. This quest would be one of mere curiosity or concupiscence of the eyes.2 However, against the suspicion that this is simply a Christian distaste for pagan learning, we must hasten to add that Cicero also expresses reservations about purely theoretical speculation: we cannot mistake Augustine’s distaste for theory as fideist anti-intellectualism but rather should locate it within the Roman tradition of practical philosophy that appropriates Greek thought with an eye primarily towards its ethical content.3 Cicero goes so far as to suggest that Plato’s Socrates, who lived a private contemplative life avoiding politics entirely, although not inflicting injustice upon anyone was ‘passively’ unjust, insofar as he did not actively seek to prevent injustices.4 In approaching his critique of philosophical virtue, one must be careful to avoid the Kantian presuppositions described in Chapter 1 which would force us to see Augustine’s critique of philosophy solely in terms of the heteronymous influence of faith on reason. The analysis of philosophy in The City of God seeks to discredit the pretensions of philosophy to offer happiness by showing the impossibility of happiness.

Augustine’s account of

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