Research On Augustine's View Of Happiness

Saint Aurelius Augustinus(354-430)is the master of patristic philosophy.As an important philosopher in the history of the western ethical thought,Augustine combined the thought of ancient Greek philosophy on happiness with the thought of early Christianity.He not only made philosophy be with the characteristics of religion,but also made religion be with characteristics of philosophy.Augustine's view of happiness is an important turning point from the ancient Greek philosophy of happiness to the medieval religious thought on happiness,and it has an important impact on the generation of thoughts on happiness of future generations.This paper attempts to reorganize Augustine's related works and the research production of his ethical thoughts both at home and abroad from the perspective of happiness,and then systematically expounds the formation background and main contents of Augustine's concept of happiness,and makes a theoretical evaluation.This paper is divided into three parts:The first part elaborates the social background and ideological origin of Augustine's concept of happiness.The social background of Augustine's view of happiness can be summarized as two aspects: first,his family status and life experience.The unique dual character endowed by his family and his life experience from a Manichean to a devout Christian are the internal factors for the formation of Augustine's view of happiness;second,the governance of the late Roman Empire.The late Roman Empire exhibited signs of decline in economy,politics,military affairs,society and foreign relations,which was the external factor of Augustine's view of happiness.The ideological origins of Augustine's view of happiness were mainly thoughts on early Christianity,Neo-Platonism and Stoicism.Early Christian thoughts were the direct source of Augustine's theory of happiness.On this basis,he absorbed the ideas of Neo-Platonism about soul degeneration,thought on “evil” and the fatalistic view of Stoicism.The second part discusses the main content of Augustine's view of happiness.Augustine's theory of happiness is based on the existence of God.Through the analysis and discussion of the hierarchy of things,world order and human memory,he proved that God is eternal and he does exist."Happiness is to be with God" is the core content of Augustine's concept of happiness.First,on the basis of the theory of “original sin”,he designed the life situation of "a person is born guilty" and clarified that people can not get rid of the crime through their own efforts but can only rely on God.Secondly,he made it clear that among all the things people yearn for,things which are temporary and related to life and death will only bring people pain,and only the eternal things can give people happiness.Finally,he discussed the core proposition of "Happiness is to be with God".Combining the view of the hierarchy of things and the world order and through a series of argumentation,he concluded that God is eternal and above everything and that people can only have happiness if they are with God.Faith,hope and love,these three sacred virtues,are the ways for people to obtain happiness.That means on the basis of God's salvation and grace,people can be with God and obtain eternal happiness through devout faith in God,fervent desire and sincere love.The third part discusses the basic characteristics of Augustine's view of happiness and its historical status and influence.Augustine's view of happiness is characterized by a strong belief centered on God and pessimism of the original sin,as well as asceticism and inhumanism.Augustine's concept of happiness plays an important role in the history of ethical thoughts.It not only symbolizes the change of thoughts on happiness from ancient Greek philosophy to medieval religion philosophy,but also paves the way for guilt ethics while opposing traditional theories of happiness.In addition,his view of happiness has a series of influences.On the one hand,it provides a religious way for the people in the late Roman Empire to relieve their suffering.On the other hand,it influences Thomas Aquinas' theory of happiness.Of course,Augustine's view of happiness has its limitations,which are mainly manifested in the complete denial of human status and value and the complete trust in faith for a happy life.To a certain extent,it restricts people's thoughts and is not conducive to the overall development of social civilization.