On Augustine’s political views

张妍妍

【Abstract】Augustine is one of the most influenced philosophers and theologists in the whole history of western philosophy and culture.His political views have done great contributions to the development of western political philosophy.Although he is considered as a political pessimist for he questioned the justice of state，his political views are actually active in a whole，because he believes that people will reach the “ultimate goodness” through their striving.However，he thinks they can only accomplish the process by the salvation of God.

【Key words】 Augustine； political philosophy； pessimist； active

【摘要】奥古斯丁是西方哲学与文化史中一位最具影响力的神学家和哲学家。他的政治思想对西方政治哲学的发展做出了巨大的贡献。由于他不相信国家存在着正义被认为是一位政治悲观主义者，但是实际上他的政治思想是积极的，因为他相信人们通过努力可以达到“终极的善”，不过人们必须通过上帝才能完成这个过程。

【关键词】奥古斯丁 政治哲学 悲观主义者 积极的

I.Introduction

Political philosophy is considered as an ongoing question of the relationship between nature and justice.According to the development of history in the West，the evolution and development of western political philosophy usually can be divided into four periods： Ancient Times，Middle Ages，Modern Age and the present.The political thoughts of each period are always reflected by the most important political ideologists and their political theories.

Generally speaking，we usually consider Platos political thoughts as the origin of western political philosophy in the Ancient Times.His main political idea is that rulers must be philosophers，or philosophers become rulers which can be reflected in his most famous and influential works Utopia.[1]P19 Another most influential philosopher in this period should be Aristotle.On Aristotles view，human beings must be subjected to the authority of the city-state in order to attain the good life.To some extent，Plato and Aristotle are considered as political optimists，for both of them think that government plays an active role in social life.

The most representative philosophers in the Middle Ages are Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.In general sense，they are much more known as theologists，but they also have great contributions to political philosophy.Augustine foresees the final achievement of justice in the City of God，because only God can remove the flaw of original sin from humankind.Thomas Aquinas also believes that it is possible to achieve a natural justice in spite of original sin，because the whole creation is made in accordance with Gods rational project.They are considered as political pessimists，for they think that all the political authorities are unjust.

II.Augustines political philosophy

As mentioned above，Augustine was considered as political pessimist，for he does not believe that justice exists between people.However，I think Augustines political thoughts contain some active ideas，for he believes that the world would become better and better and can finally reach its “ultimate-good” through peoples striving.

i.Political pessimism

Political pessimism questioned the justice of political power.[2]P96 The purpose and role of government is one of the fundamental issues in the history of political thought.In general，the ideologists hold two kinds of views towards the role and responsibilities of government： the first is mainly to punish peoples crime，so is called political pessimism； and the other is to do benefit for the people，which is political optimism.The well-known ideological historian Carlisle has mentioned that Augustine emphasizes the governments role of punishment and neglects its responsibility of protecting justice.Therefore，Augustine thinks that the effect of government is mostly pessimist，for its aim is mainly to punish the crime but not to promote the virtues.

In such perspective，the American scholar Deans view is most representative and fully exposed.His main ideas can be summed up as following： differing from the classical thoughts which emphasize the moralize effect of city-state or the theologians like Eusebius who deify the effect of “Christian empire”，Augustine persists the concept of political pessimism towards government which appeared in the early Christianity； Augustine believes that the primary function of the government does not lie in moral education，but to maintain the external social order through punishment and treatment.

ii.Active political view

Though Augustines political views are mostly considered as pessimist，however，I think his views are to some extent actually active.The active political view refers to the political life and aim of state is to pursuit the ultimate goodness.People who hold this kind of view believe that they are confident in their ability to reform the world，and the world would become better and better through peoples efforts.All the evil things，whether they are from individuals or community，should be eliminated thoroughly.Citizens are lack of the possibility of taking part in politics，and all the things should be arranged by the state for the pursuit of “ultimate goodness”.Generally speaking，most theologists who hold the kinds of active political views endorse the idea that attempting to lead people to a word like paradise the state should be ruled by saints.However，Augustine thinks that the saint cannot be anyone in the world but only can be the God.

As a matter of fact，Augustines view is originated and developed from Platos thoughts of rational world and omnipotent moral rationality.In Platos thoughts，any ideology is a free object，and it exists and stands on itself with an absolute and objective validity.On this basis，Augustine has developed a higher authority from Platos thoughts： he considers that goodness cannot guarantee the realization of goodness by itself，and he advocates that humans rationality must be subservient to a higher power，and that is God.Thus after Platos thoughts of political philosophy and political ethics，Augustine has made the politics deified.Although Augustine do not believe that real justice exist in the rule of government as I have mentioned above，however，he believes that goodness definitely exists.He thinks human beings will finally attain the “ultimate goodness” by the leading of the saint，and it cannot be anyone by God.In this sense，we can say that Augustines political views are actually active.

iii.City of God and the earthly city

Augustine has developed Platos concept of the opposition between rational world and real world to be the opposition between the “city of God” and the “earthly city”.The earthly city is an organization that is united by human beings because of social communication.

Furthermore，Augustine puts forward his theological political views.He advocates that politics should coexist with magisterium，actually he wants to demonstrate the churchs necessity of existence.That is to say，only relying on church that God is able to oblige the human beings，and on the contrary，only church can help human beings to achieve their intergradations with God.Whats more important is that he has established a complete theological political system with the demonstration that magisterium is higher than the reign.On one hand，Augustines political thoughts are influenced deeply by Platos theory of justice，and emphasize social order and harmony； on the other hand，it has his own uniqueness： corresponding with the city of God and the earthly city，he divides the law into two kinds of law.One is natural law which is made by God，and the other one is man-made law which is established by the state.People have a tendency to look forward to peace in nature，and the establishing of state is to maintain the social peace.Augustine thinks the man-made law cannot conflict with the natural law made by God，for man-made law can only maintain a temporary peace，while the natural made by God may promise human beings an eternal peace.Therefore，the clergies are more authoritative in explaining the law，because they call on people with the thoughts of God.

III.Conclusion

Augustine is one of the most influenced philosophers in the whole history of western philosophy.His political views have done great contribution to the development of western political philosophy.Although he does not believe that the state can give people justice，and for this reason he is considered as a political pessimist，his political views are still active in a whole，for he believes that people will reach the “ultimate goodness” through their striving.However，he thinks they can only accomplish the process by the salvation of God.

References：

[1]Bertrand Russell.The History of Western Philosophy[M].New York：Simon&Schuster，1972.

[2]Sharon M.Kaye，Paul Thomson.On Augustine[M].Peking：Zhonghua Book Company，2002.

[3]夏洞奇.尘世的权威：奥古斯丁的社会政治思想[M].上海：上海三联书店，2007.

[4]夏洞奇.现代西方史家对奥古斯丁政治思想的解读[J].北京师范大学：史学史研究，2004，（1）：74-80.

[5]章士嵘.西方思想史[M].上海：东方出版中心，2002.