San Alfonso University Foundation

Bachelor's degree in philosophy

Medieval Philosophy
Luis Eduardo Riaño
Teacher Fernando Sanmiguel
COMPARATIVE ESSAY BETWEEN SAINT AUGUSTINE AND SAINT THOMAS OF

AQUINO

KNOWLEDGE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN AND STATE

EPISTEMOLOGICAL GOD
Saint Augustine

A type of knowledge Inside the

where only this is us man this his
about the truth.(The God is known through consciousness which it
reason precedes the of reason. make known his law
senses) natural.

In the natural order of

universe we find
SAINT THOMAS Two types of natural laws that the
knowledge that we we can apply to
they approach the truth God is known through
our society.
senses precede the of the senses
reason)

1- EPISTEMOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE:

a- St. Augustine affirms two different types of knowledge: The sensitive: Which
it fulfills the function of showing the things and/or objects that surround us, but simply with
they find a part of reality that is also deceptive, this statement is
of Platonic and Pre-Socratic character, since Parmenides is the founder of the rational method,
It stated the following: 'Only two paths of inquiry can be conceived. One consists of
in that being is and cannot not be; this is the path of persuasion, since
the truth accompanies. The other, that being is not and it is necessary that it not be; and this, I tell you,

it is a path in which no one can persuade themselves of anything there is no other way for him

speech : what the to be is.

Only reason can follow this path, since the senses stop at the
appearance and attest the birth and, the change of things, that is to say, at the same time their being and not

It is as if men had two heads, one that sees the

being and another that sees non-being, like fools wandering back and forth without realizing it
You're welcome. Man must, therefore, distance himself from appearances and judge solely with reason. 'Only

thinking (fronein, noein, logos) discovers the truth, the senses provide meaning and
"deception" (Windelband, 1948, p. 89).

This means that there are unstable truths, as they change constantly.
According to this knowledge, which pertains to sensitive objects, it is merely an opinion and/or
opinion as Plato asserted.

There are unchangeable truths, which we can only achieve through the
reason, without the use of the senses. Through reasoning, I can reach truths of a type
metaphysical, how to know the existence of God. He who imprints all things in us.
good from him.

In metaphysical truth, there are ideas, which very contrary to Plato are not in the
intelligible world, but in the mind of the creator God. That is why God is the only
necessary, perfect, and immutable reality.

B- SAINT THOMAS:

Thomas Aquinas followed the theories of Aristotle and in the theory of knowledge the
Aquinas distinguished two classes of this, the senses and reason. In this sense, the sensible
Reason precedes, as everything stems from experience.
Knowledge consists of 'abstracting the sensible from the intelligible'; there is nothing in the intellect.
that it has not been before in the senses. But it is by the grace of God that we can know.
of/intellect agent.

c- DIFFERENCES

According to Augustine, we can only know the truth through reason; with it we can
doing exact things, we know the perfection of God. In contrast with the senses,
we managed to achieve or come to merely human opinions. Saint Thomas asserts that everything
what we know through our senses, which reach our reason, is
presents us with the beauty or perfection of God.

2-KNOWLEDGE OF GOD:

a-Augustine of Hippo, arrives through his Platonic knowledge to affirm the existence
of a single truth, where it is found in one's interior or soul.

According to Augustine, the soul, by knowing itself, knows its objects and judges the truth of
things. But the truth is the origin of God, which means that God left us or imprinted
his ideas. Thanks to illumination we can judge what is true or false.

One argument used to prove the existence of God is to show through a

noological argument, which is based on the activity of the human mind. This tells us that the
man is an inferior being, who is discontent with his reality, since implicitly
there is a more precise truth, for that reason, try to come to know necessary truths or
stable. For this reason, he wants to know the existence of something superior that contains
characteristics of immutability, necessity, eternity, and perfection (GOD). The method that
use it to find God, it is reason and leaves aside this reality that is imperfect and changes
constantly.

In summary, we can say that: 'Saint Augustine takes up the Platonic passage, but with
important alterations. In Plato, the starting point is the things. Saint Augustine, in
change relies primarily on the soul as an intimate reality, what is called the inner man.
For this reason, the Augustinian dialectic to seek God is confession. Saint Augustine recounts his
Life. The soul rises to the bodies to itself, then to reason, and finally to the light.
that illuminates, to God himself. One reaches God from the created reality, and above all from the
intimacy of man.

As man is the image of God, he finds Him, as in a mirror, in intimacy.

from one's soul; to turn away from God is like throwing away one's own entrails, to empty oneself and be increasingly

less; when man, on the other hand, enters within himself, he discovers divinity. But
Through a supernatural illumination, man can know God in a way
direct.

B-Saint Thomas:

To find the existence of God, Saint Thomas uses the empirical and/or Aristotelian method.
since it identifies five paths that are presented to us in our reality, which are: the
existence of movement or change, the existence of beings that are caused, the
contingency of the beings of this world, the existence of different degrees of perfection and
finally the order of the universe.

The existence of these proofs shows us that there is a being capable of bringing together all of these.

qualities presented by the five ways. This being is God.

DIFFERENCES:

For Saint Augustine, God cannot be conceived, but can be understood through reason. It is a
perfection, which is stored in our soul and contains all the good things that
with our actions we must act. St. Augustine shows us that we do not need to see to
create and we just need to feel the absolute truth (God) within us.
Saint Thomas tells us that we can see God, as He is presented to us in beauty.
order of the universe and it is in this way that we acquire certainty of someone more perfect
than we.

Later, this position of Saint Augustine would acquire the name of theology in theology.
negative, which consists of completely surrendering to the intangible and invisible and elevating oneself through

above the unit itself. On the other hand, the position of Saint Thomas would come to be called
positive theology, which is to know the attributes of God through our reality.

3-Man and the State (AUGUSTINE AND THOMAS DIFFERENCES)

The universe, for Saint Thomas, contains an organization or a physical order and this order
becomes reflected in the human being, for this reason man, as a social being, needs something that
The being. The human being uses natural perfection to organize their society and thus
contribute to the common good. It is necessary to make positive laws, so that they can be
fulfilled, but must never lose their nature.

For Saint Augustine, the natural law is in the conscience of each being and we do not find it in
our external reality, we only need our inner self to be good
citizens. In more systematic words, we can say:

For Saint Augustine, in the same way that man has a natural light that enables him
to know, has a moral conscience. The eternal divine law, to which everything is subjected,
it enlightens our intelligence, and its imperatives constitute the natural law. Everything must be
subject to a perfect order. But it is not enough for man to know the law; it is necessary,
besides, that she wants him. Here appears the problem of will.

The soul has a weight that moves it and carries it, and this weight is love. Love is active, and it is
he who ultimately determines and qualifies the will; good love is to say, charity
in its truest sense, it is the central point of Augustinian ethics. With the famous
imperative love and do what you want.

Agustín believed that historical states are a consequence of original sin,

there is a marked separation between the two states: the spiritual and the earthly. In contrast
Saint Thomas placed a lot of importance on this and understands the political state as a
natural place where man should live. This means that to take the state is
necessary even if the original sin had not occurred.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Correa, J. (1961). History of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. Bogota, Colombia: San Juan Eudes.

Windelband, W. (1948). History of Philosophy. Mexico: Antgua librería Robredo.

Marias, J. (1958). History of Philosophy. Spain: Barbara de Braganza.

Guerrero, R. (1996). History of Medieval Philosophy: Madrid, Spain: Akal Editions, S.A.