Politics As Longing And Suffering

As the most profound political thinker in the early church,Augustine occupies an important position in the history of Western political philosophy.Surrounding Augustine's series of theological and philosophical masterpieces,English Augustine academia has produced a large number of works discussing Augustine's political thoughts,such as discussing Augustine's views on the sale of slaves and views on the war of justice.The main concern of this study is not these specific issues in political worlds.This study is mainly concerned about Augustine's understanding of the nature of politics.Regarding this issue,This study found that Augustine academia formed two different interpretations based on Augustine 's corresponding statements in some texts: seeing politics as essentially an establishment that punishes original sin and maintaining social order;seeing politics as essential In order to satisfy mankind's longing for integrity and cultivate political virtues of civic virtue.Since the beginningof the 20 th century,after the advancement of many scholars,the former has occupied the position of mainstream interpretation in English Augustine.The latter was proposed by some scholars in the late 20 th century,and gradually gained the support of some scholars and formed a challenge to mainstream interpretation.Due to the vastness of Augustine 's handed down documents,this article selects some of the more directly related texts,combined with existing research in the academic world,and attempts to provide a novel and reasonable defense for the interpretation of political positivism.This study starts with clarifying the creation order of God described by Augustine,clarifies the theological-metaphysical basis of our understanding of Augustine's political thought,and points out that the history of the world before the end of the judgment after humans left the Garden of Eden should be based on Augustine's original concept of "seaeculum" To refer to it,many scholars often use the eschatological concepts of "city of God" and "city on earth" unrestrictedly.This confusion will prevent people from properly understanding the nature of politics.The main part of this study starts with the phenomenon of death and the desire to dominate in the political world.It discusses the influence of death and the desire to dominate on the existence of people and its relationship with political life.There are four issues: the possibility of human happiness and freedom,the counterattack and new defense of political positivism.These four topics can be reduced to two groups of arguments based on criticism of political negativism and support for the interpretation of political positive theory.The study will first show that the death anxiety and value nihilism brought by time constitute the fundamental tension in human existence.If a political life not only declares its indifference to human existence,it also already torture his life,and such a politics is not only incompetent or extremely bad,thus forming a criticism of political negativism.Secondly,it will be argued that due to the disorder of human love,one cannot fundamentally eliminate one's own desire for domination.According to Augustine's understanding,this universal,irreversible desire to dominate leads todisputes and conflicts between people Roots.The existence of death and rule constitutes the yoke of the political world mentioned in the title of this study.Thirdly,this study analyzes and demonstrates that although timeliness serves as a chain for imprisoning people,it still leaves space for people 's freedom and happiness to a certain extent in the gaps and time can also make the world a tempered virtue in the sense of salvation.Finally,the study believes that the exploration of the nature of Augustine's political world cannot be limited to the empirical world,but also needs to go beyond the world and find the possibility of politics that human beings perfect themselves in the context of revelation.Thus,the revelation not only does not deny that politics is a kind of goodness that existed at the beginning of creation,but also helps reason to confirm the right-by-nature of politics.