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This 6 page paper discusses the influence of Platonic thought and philosphy on the philosopher St. Augustine. Examples given and cited from texts. Bibliographpy lists 6 sources.
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6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_MBplaug.rtf
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when one has read and understood Platonic thinking, it is evident that St. Augustine was directly influenced by Platonic thought. Mankind may have reached the stars, plumbed the exquisite depths
of the ocean, but when all is said and done, nothing is still so vast or as uncharted as the human mind and soul. De Immortalitate Animae, a twenty-five part
essay, demonstrates a direct influence of Platonism on the philosophy of Saint Aurelius Augustine. St. Augustine became quite disenchanted with the ideas of his day and age. Quite the rebel
during his time, he was given to every sort of hedonistic pastime. Finally, however, he would leave familiar surroundings and embrace, first, the teachings of the Manichean where he would
initially begin to develop his ideas on immortality. He initially embraced the Manichean teaching that there are two ultimate principles, one responsible for good and for the human soul, the
other for evil and matter, including the body(Gilson 1938, pg3-66). However, it wasnt before long that he tired of the materialism which he found to be endemic within the Manichean
movement and he seems to have adopted the skeptical attitude of the Platonic New Academy(Gilson, 1938 pg 3-66). It is known that Augustine read the Latin translation of
Victorinus by Plato. This seems to have moved Augustine from the point of simply musing about immortality into an assurance about a spiritual reality which encompassed the very real existence
of a spiritual realm. From this he found his way toward reconciling the presence of evil in the world with the Christian teaching of divine creation(On the Soul (De Anima)
III, 9, 432b 20). In this section, the influence of Platonism is quite obvious. Plato
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