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Confessions

Confessions. Philosophy 1 Spring, 2002 G. J. Mattey. Plotinus. Born 205 AD Studied in Alexandria, Egypt Taught in Rome Founder of neo-Platonism Died 270 AD. Neo-Platonism. Plotinus’s interpretation of Plato’s thought Greatly influenced the thought of Augustine

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Confessions

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  1. Confessions Philosophy 1 Spring, 2002 G. J. Mattey

  2. Plotinus • Born 205 AD • Studied in Alexandria, Egypt • Taught in Rome • Founder of neo-Platonism • Died 270 AD

  3. Neo-Platonism • Plotinus’s interpretation of Plato’s thought • Greatly influenced the thought of Augustine • Reality is arranged in a hierarchy • The One (unitary source of all being) • Mind (location of the Forms) • Soul (origin of space and time) • Nature (matter ordered by space, time, and Forms) • Matter (undifferentiated, lowest kind of being) • Evil lies in the lower orders and is privation

  4. Augustine • Born 354 • From Tagaste, North Africa • Bishop of Hippo (395) • First great Christian philosopher • Died 430

  5. Augustine’s Winding Path • Father was a pagan, mother a Christian • Began as a Christian • Became attracted to paganism • Then to Manicheanism (two Gods: one good, one evil) • Then to skepticism • Finally returned to Christianity, through Plotinus, who explained evil as privation

  6. Augustine’s Contributions • Brought Greek philosophy to Christianity, giving it greater intellectual resources • Defended Christian doctrine against various heresies • Argued against skepticism: one cannot doubt that one exists and one has the thoughts one does when doubting

  7. Creation • The Old Testament states that in the beginning, God made heaven and earth • If a thing is variable, then there was something that did not exist before • If there was something that does not exist before, then that thing was made • Heaven and earth are variable, and hence made • They clearly did not make themselves, since they would have existed before they existed

  8. The Word • God did not make the world like an artist, who gives form to pre-existing matter • Heaven and earth were not created in heaven and earth • There is no pre-existing material for creation; only God exists primoridally • It is not by uttering words, for something would have existed as medium • So creation is by a Word co-eternal with God

  9. Misunderstanding Eternity • An ancient error is to ask what God did before creation (e.g., rest) • But a new movement of will by God would contradict God’s eternal substance • Another error would be to ask in consequence why the world has not existed eternally • This error betrays ignorance of what eternity is

  10. No Time Before Time • Eternity stands for ever and what is eternal is always present • Time does not stand and moments of time are not present all at once, and hence are not eternal • God made nothing before making heaven and earth • If there was time then, God had already made time • If there was not time then, there was no “before then”

  11. What is Time? • Past time depends on things passed • Future time depends on things approaching • Present time depends on things being • The present recedes into the past, so time is only by tending toward non-being • This raises paradoxes • How can the past be long ago, when it no longer is? • How can a stretch of time be long, when only one of its moment is?

  12. Past, Present, Future • It seems that only present time can be measured, since the past and future are not • Perhaps the past and future do not exist • Or maybe time comes from and goes to a “secret place,” seen only by prophets • If they are somewhere, it should be in the present, since only it is

  13. Present Past, Present Future • The only things that are somewhere are causes and signs of the future and effects of the past • It is beyond our knowledge whether God shows the future because it is in some way or only shows a sign • There is no past or future, but only a present of things present, a present of things past, a present of things future • The past and future can be in the mind at present

  14. Measuring Time • We cannot measure time by duration, since it would have to be beyond the present • So we can measure it only in its passing through the present • This cannot be done by measuring the movement of things • A day would be one circuit of the sun, no matter how fast • Time is the condition of movement, not vice-versa • Time measures motion and rest

  15. Extendedness • Time seems to be extendedness, which we ought to be able to measure • Probably it is the extendedness of the mind itself • We try to measure from a starting-point to an ending-point • But the starting-point ceases to be • It remains only as an impress in my mind

  16. Acts of the Mind • The mind acts in three ways • Expecting • Attending • Remembering • “What it expects passes, by way of what it attends to, into what it remembers” • A long future is a long expectation of the future • A long past is a long memory of the past

  17. God’s Mind • God has no expectations or memories • God knows everything unitarily without changing at all • By analogy, God created the universe without changing at all

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