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Philosophy paper on Free Will
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Phil Paper In the City of God, Augustine attempts to reconcile the ideas of a man; he respects very much, Plato, and his faith in the Bible and the word of God. Also, in On Free Choice of the Will Augustine has a series of conversations, which help him explain his ideas on the type of person that he believes God to be. He actually believes that Plato is a great man and he is in awe with the amount of work that came from him that seem to match the teachings of the scriptures. But while Plato does have a lot of ideas that are easily combined with the Bible he also has some that could make it hard for Augustine to use his ideas with his Christian thought. Because Plato is not really a Christian he has some ideas that Augustine finds unsettling and tries hard to reconcile with his own thought. In On Free Choice of the Will Book I Augustine is having a conversation with Evodius about the virtues that people acquire (or should want to acquire) that make them better people. People better able to understand God. Augustine is trying to explain to Evodius the idea of good will. He believes that good will "is the desire that a man should have, will to live upright and honorable lives." (On Free Choice of the Will Book II, p20-21) It is not enough that a man has will it must be good. Because will in and of itself is not good. He develops this idea from the idea of the four cardinal virtues. The four virtues are prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice. They are all virtues that are found in the Bible. It is said that every man should strive to have these characteristics within him. Augustine believes that these virtues are the building blocks of a man’s character and these are the ideas that can bring one happiness. He believes that great wealth, goods, or reputation won't bring these things. The four cardinal virtues that Augustine holds up with such great esteem were actually the same virtues that Plato had come up with himself.
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