The Concept of Happiness in St. Augustine (a Critical Appraisal)
CHAPTER ONE
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
What is happiness? What does it mean to be happy? And in what does happiness consist? These and other like questions are what I set out to investigate in this work. This investigation is proper especially at this moment when there is an obvious misinformation about the concept of happiness. People no longer understand what it means to be happy and the difference between happiness and pleasure. The fact we shall gather through this discursive investigation and exegesis, hopefully, will help to redirect our minds towards the proper appreciation of happiness.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
The concept of happiness has been of universal interest. People of different walks of life have desired and worked for the attainment of happiness. It has equally been a concern of moral philosophers of different periods. It is perceived according to their respective line of thoughts. Now, in our inquiry, we shall be exploring the various views of various philosophers and thinkers from the Ancient period through the medieval period to the Modern period. We shall expose their different ideas on “Happiness.”
THE ANCIENT PERIOD
In this period of infantile stage of philosophy, some of the philosophers deliberated fully or partially on the meaning of happiness.
Socrates, the first known moral philosopher among the Greeks, sees this as the offshoot of virtue. Happiness for him is an inescapable desire in man. Thus he says, “Because we have desire for happiness, we choose our acts with the hope that they will bring us happiness.”1 He equated knowledge with virtue and “to be knowledgeable is to be virtuous. The evil is committed out of ignorance.”2
Plato however regards happiness to consist in the attainment of the highest good. This attainment is possible through virtue. Hence he says,
“Trivial pursuit would be incapable of producing a genuine sense of well-being and happiness, whereas worthwhile behavior would lead to such happiness and virtue”
With this, happiness occupies an important position as the true end of life. It behooves on the rational part of the soul to perceive correct actions and then direct other parts towards the attainment of the highest good.
In the same vein, Aristotle sees happiness as the main purpose of our life. It is “the end which is sought for its sake and whatever a person seeks as an end or as a good, he seeks as a means to happiness.” One attains happiness through moral living while to refrain from good moral acts is to be unhappy and to miss the track. This is why Aristotle defines happiness as the “activity of the soul in accordance with virtue.”
CHAPTER THREE
THE CONCEPTS OF HAPPINESS
THE NOTION OF ULTIMATE END
Albert Camus tells us “there is only one truly serious philosophical problem: …judging whether life is or not worth living.”1 From time immemorial, man has been asking himself basic questions about his origin, nature and destiny.
The concept of life is complex and as such cannot be fully understood from any single perspective. Many people, philosophers, psychologists, educationists and other intellectuals have tried to find out the meaningfulness, purposefulness or the end of human actions. In this work, we raise anew to our capacity the same perennial philosophical question: what is the end of human actions?
Some scholars known as “antifinalists”1 will totally disagree with the idea of purpose or the end of the universe and man in particular. Philosophers like Heraclitus will see the universe as purposeless. Hence, life is a mere confused flux. Toeing this line of thought, Jean Paul Satre speaks of life as a useless passion. Even some of the modern thinkers like Walter T Stace wrote:
CHAPTER FOUR
AUGUSTINE ON HAPPINESS
HIS BACKGROUND
St. Augustine, whose early adolescent stage suffered moral decadence, was born at Tagaste in the North African province of Numidia in 354 AD. His father Patricius was a pagan but his mother Monica was a devout Christian. In his early stages, Augustine received a good Christian orientation from his mother. But later at the age of sixteen, he had a turning point from this Christian way of living when he began the study of rhetoric in Carthage. His morality was negatively influenced due to the highly licentious life of the school. Later at the age of nineteen; he came across the “Hortensus of Cicero” which was an exhortation to achieve philosophical wisdom. The passion for learning having been ignited by this book, he was in great quest for the certitude of one’s knowledge.
CHAPTER FIVE
SYNTHESIS OF THE VIEWS
EVALUATION:
Philosophy is a discipline concerned with the ultimate truth. With this basic fact, Augustine was motivated to search for perfect happiness. One may then ask, where does this ultimate happiness lie?” Could it be found in the uncreated being above man called God? Or, could it be found in man or, something below man.
God is both the necessary and the ultimate Being. In him, essence and existence are one. He gave other beings, the possible beings, their existence but he Himself owes His existence to no other being. As far as we are concerned, this Being is the end of all philosophical and theological investigations. After all, philosophy is concerned with the search for the ultimate truth and God is the “Ultimate truth.” Augustine, Aquinas, and others realized this fact and here lies the confluence of philosophy and theology.
Rightly observed, Augustine of Hippo as a philosopher, was influenced by theology and scripture. Most of his issues are seen in the light of God. He sees God as the source and the summit of our happiness. Thus, he addressed God; “you have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until they rest in you.”1 Commenting further, he said,
CONCLUSION
Having reached this stage, it is worthwhile to put succinctly that Augustine did not totally deny the possibility of experiencing an atom of happiness in this world. This will posit his view to be pessimistic which will be contrary to his stand. Rather, the joy one gets by being contented can still be considered as happiness. But it is imperfect. Augustine’s postulation, on the other hand is more concerned with the perfect one of which nothing else could be desired. This is found in other being than God. In appreciating this view, Augustine wrote,
Philosophers therefore of whatever sort who have believed that the true and supreme God is the cause of created things, and the light by which they are known and good towards which our action are directed; and that He is the source from which our nature has its origin, our learning truth, our life, its happiness- all these we prefer to others and recognized them as our neighbours.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- BARNESS, J., (ed) The Complete Works of Aristotle Vol. 2, U.S.A: Princeton University Press, 1985
- BOETHIUS, A., Consolation Philosophy, New York: Penguin Books, 1969
- BORCHER D., et al., Exploring Ethics, USA: Macmillan Publication Company, 1986.
- COPLESTON, F., A History of Philosophy, Vol. 1, New York: Continuum Books, 1950
- A History Of Philosophy, Vol. 2, New York: Continuum Books, 1950
- A History Of Philosophy, Vol. 6, New York: Continuum Books, 1950
- DOUGHERTY, K., General Ethics, New York: Penguin Books, 1969
- FAGOTHEY, A., Right and Reason, Ethics in Theory And Practice, Ohio: Meril Publishing Company, 1989
