PHL201H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Manichaeism
2016-10-04
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PHL205 Lecture 7
Last Class
- Weakness of the Will: Comparison of Augustine’s account with other philosophical
schools.
- What’s the origin of the divided will?
• People who choose bad things create in themselves a disposition to do further bad
things and therefore enslave themselves in bad things. This is an aspect of the
divided will. (e.g. a desire for sexual pleasure comes from indulging in those
desires)
- This is the reason he now has a desire to endorse God but that he remains
hesitant in a sense.
- This is the notion of habit/disposition.
Essay Topics
1. Discuss one of Augustine’s philosophical arguments against Manichean dualism.
There are a couple passages of direct engagement with Manicheans (there are
philosophical and non argumetns). One thing the Manicheans believe is in Dualism. He
also criticizes Manicheans on their view of evil (in several ways) 1. that their view that
evil comes from a principle takes away moral responsibility of moral agents to their
actions.
2. Augustine maintains that no one is free from sin, not even infants. How successful is
his argument for this conclusion?
First thing would be to outline the Cradle Argument and then to deconstruct it based on
either unsoundness or other
3. It is a common assumption that human beings do what they do for the sake of
something good. According to this view, human motivation is tied to a positive
evaluation of a course of action by the agent. Do you agree with this view?
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Document Summary
Weakness of the will: comparison of augustine"s account with other philosophical schools. What"s the origin of the divided will: people who choose bad things create in themselves a disposition to do further bad things and therefore enslave themselves in bad things. This is an aspect of the divided will. (e. g. a desire for sexual pleasure comes from indulging in those desires) This is the reason he now has a desire to endorse god but that he remains hesitant in a sense. Essay topics: discuss one of augustine"s philosophical arguments against manichean dualism. There are a couple passages of direct engagement with manicheans (there are philosophical and non argumetns). One thing the manicheans believe is in dualism. First thing would be to outline the cradle argument and then to deconstruct it based on either unsoundness or other: it is a common assumption that human beings do what they do for the sake of something good.
