Augustine Vs Aquinas Research Paper

Christian philosophy is unique in the aspect that it mainly focuses on God’s position in the universe as well as God’s position in man’s life. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas were two Christian philosophers that analyzed and interpreted the scripture and how God played his role in our lives, along with trying to figure out how man is to become happy and do good. Christian philosophy is not focused on self-interest, but mainly concentrates on doing good. This psychology of action calls people to be motivated to do good, however the real struggle is trying to determine where that motivation comes from. Augustine believed that the original Greek cardinal virtues – temperance, courage, wisdom, and justice – were too prideful so he sought
Aquinas stated that the ultimate goal of life is the contemplation of God, based on Aristotle’s Pure Reason. This also goes along with Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory. This theory states that all things follow the natural order of the universe. The order of the universe is not haphazard or random, it has a specific goal, and Aquinas says this goal is the contemplation of God. Along with this Aquinas also discusses the Principle of Double Effect and the Just War Theory. The principle of double effect deals with actions and intent versus consequence. Depending on the intent of a questionable action would determine whether consequence is in order or not. The Just War Theory is a system to determine whether it is justifiable to go to war. These philosophers would probably encounter quite a few problems if a stereotypical, dramatic actor were to ask them, “but what is my motivation to do good?” There is a question of what would motivate a person to follow their theories and their ideas on how to accomplish how to do good and be happy. It can be difficult to fond motivation for very simple things in life, such as even doing laundry. So to tell someone how they are supposed to do good, but not give them a reason why would be basically
Aquinas focuses as the contemplation of god as being the ultimate goal of life. This can be difficult to find any form of motivation to do good in. However, there could be something in his Natural Law Theory that could lead to a source of motivation. Humans have made their own set of laws, to chiefly implement the natural laws. This keeps humans in check and allows for more room to do good. Since human beings often strive to obey these man made laws, (even if it is mainly because there are punishments if the laws are not obeyed,) they are in turn striving to obey the natural laws as well. Just like Augustine though, there are flaws with this as well. The same principle of ‘people have free will’ comes into play with Aquinas too. If people are able to choose what to do, that means they are able to choose to disobey the laws that humans have constructed to abide by the natural laws. Free will can also poke a hole in Aquinas’s theories as well as Augustine’s. Augustine and Aquinas had different thoughts on a lot of different things, but there is a sort of unity in the fact that both of their philosophies can become flawed when looking at the concept of having motivation to do what is good and what is asked of a human by