Man’s animality in the light of st. Augustine’s philosophical works

Mariusz Terka

Wyższy Instytut Teologiczny w Częstochowie , Poland


Abstract

As a corporeal being, man is part of the material world, he lives and is subject to processes similar to those which prevail in the world of animals and exceeds them only owing to the fact that he possesses a rational soul. Thus, although a body makes animality possible for a man to exist and function, its nature, meaning man’s similarity to animals, is defined mainly by the relationship between the soul and body. Since animals do not have minds, animality understood on the ontological level is something man and animals share in common. St. Augustine describes this as experiencing bodily sensations by the sensual being, which, because of their turning towards material things, lives in the world of bodily sensations and finds their place in it. Therefore, this is irrational delectation in bodily matters. This animality in humans is also considered as a possible lifestyle, which means it is an object of the will’s choice and assumes the form of the process of becoming similar to animals in the moral sense. It consists in the fact that man, who is created in the image and likeness of God, being turned to Him by nature, yet due to the sin of pride turns away from Him and from contemplation of eternal truths, and because of covetousness goes towards the carnal world. Being pleased with worldly possessions and directing his desires towards them, man becomes accustomed to existing among corporeal matters, forgetting about God and his own nature, and aspires to sensual pleasures. Therefore, the consequence of turn­ing away from the Creator and lustfully turning to worldly possessions is blind­ness that leads him or her into slavery of corporeality and idolatry.

Keywords:

idolatry, mistake, God, body, human, soul, memory, lust, pleasure, accustom, reason, sensuality, animality

Augustinus, Confessiones, ed. C. Carena, NBA 1, Roma 1965, 4-503.
Augustinus, De immortalitate animae, ed. D. Gentili, NBA 3/1, Roma 1970, 508-547.
Augustinus, De libero arbitrio, ed. A. Trapè – D. Gentili, NBA 3/2, Roma 1976, 156-377.
Augustinus, De musica, ed. A. Trapè – D. Gentili, NBA 3/2, Roma 1976, 400-707.
Augustinus, De quantitate animae, ed. D. Gentili, NBA 3/2, Roma 1976, 14-133.
Augustinus, De vera religione, ed. A. Pieretti, NBA 6/1, Roma 1995, 16-157.
Augustinus, Solliloquia, ed. D. Gentili, NBA 3/1, Roma 1970, 382-487.
Origenes, Contra Celsum VII-VIII, ed. M. Borret, SCh 150, Paris 1969.
Theophilus Antiochenus, Ad Autolycum, ed. G. Bardy – J. Sender, SCh 20, Paris 1948.
Agostino Dizionario Enciclopedico, ed. A Fitzgerald, ed. italiana L. Alici – A. Pieretti, Roma 2007.
Augustinus-Lexicon, hrsg. C. Mayer et al., ed. K.H. Chelius – A.E.J. Grote, Basel – Stutt¬gart, vol. I/1-2, 1986: A-Ani; 3, 1988: An-Asi; 4, 1990: As-Be; 5-6, 1992: Be-Ciu; 7-8, 1994: Ciu-Con; vol. II/1-2, 1996: Cor-De; 3-4, 1999: De-Do; 5-6, 2001, Do-Ep; 7-8, 2002: Ep-Fi; vol. III/1-2, 2004: Fi-Hie; 3-4, 2006: Hie-Inst.
Baltes M., Animal, AL I 357-358.
Bolis G., L’idolatria in S. Agostino. Una prospectiva antropologica, Roma 2004.
Bonner G., Concupiscentia, AL I 1113-1122.
Bonner G., Cupiditas, AL II 166-172.
Bouton-Touboulic A.I., L’ordre caché. La notion d’ordre chez saint Augustin, Paris 2004.
Burnell P., Concupiscenza, in: Agostino Dizionario Enciclopedico, ed. A Fitzgerald, ed. italiana L. Alici – A. Pieretti, Roma 2007, 443-448.
Cipriani N., L’influsso di Varrone sul pensiero antropologico e morale nei primi scritti di p. Agostino, in: L’etica cristiana nei secoli III e IV: eredità e confronti, XXV Incontro di Studiosi dell’antichità cristiana, SEA 53, Roma 1996, 369-400.
Cipriani N., Memoria, in: Agostino Dizionario Enciclopedico, ed. A Fitzgerald, ed. italia¬na L. Alici – A. Pieretti, Roma 2007, 934-935.
Cipriani N., Molti e uno solo in Cristo. La spiritualità di Agostino, Roma 2009.
Czyżewski B., Życie doczesne człowieka w ocenie Ojców Kościoła, in: Człowiek w per¬spektywie doczesności i wieczności. Antropocentryzm Ojców Kościoła, red. B. Częsz, Poznań 2006 = TPatr 3 (2006) 25-42.
DeSimone R.J., Introduzione alla teologia del Dio Uno e Trino da Tertuliano ad Agostino, “Sussidi Patristici” 9 (1995) 7-119.
Duffy S.J., Antropologia, in: Agostino Dizionario Enciclopedico, ed. A Fitzgerald, ed. italiana L. Alici – A. Pieretti, Roma 2007, 202-213.
Eckmann A., Przebóstwienie człowieka w pismach wczesnochrześcijańskich, Lublin 2003.
Eckmann A., Symbol apostolski w pismach świętego Augustyna, Lublin 1999.
FitzgeraldA.D., Consuetudine, in: Agostino Dizionario Enciclopedico, ed. A Fitzgerald, ed. italiana L. Alici – A. Pieretti, Roma 2007, 461-463.
FitzgeraldA.D., Corpo, in: Agostino Dizionario Enciclopedico, ed. A Fitzgerald, ed. italiana L. Alici – A. Pieretti, Roma 2007, 478-481.
Horn C., Antropologie, in: Augustin Handbuch, ed. V.H. Drecoll, Tübingen 2007, 479-487.
Kowalczyk S., Człowiek i Bóg w nauce świętego Augustyna, Lublin 2007.
Maryniarczyk A., Człowiek – istota otwarta na prawdę i dobro, „Człowiek w kulturze” 11 (1998) 185-201.
Mayer C., Caro – Spiritus, AL I 743-759.
O’Connel R.J., The “Enneads” and St. Augustine’s Image of Happiness, VigCh 17 (1963) 129-164.
O’Connel R.J., The Plotinian Fall od the Soul in St. Augustine, “Traditio” 19 (1963) 1-35.
O’Daly G.J.P, Anima, animus, AL I 315-340.
Reale G., Historia filozofii starożytnej, tłum. E.I. Zieliński, IV, Lublin 1999.
Rombs R., Saint Augustine and the Fall of the Soul. Beyond O’Connell and His Critics, Washington 2006.
Špidlik T. – GarganoI. – Grossi V., Historia duchowości, vol. 3: Duchowość Ojców Koś¬cioła, transl. K. Stopa, Kraków 2004.
Stróżyński M., “Visus iste non a carne trahebatur”. Rola zmysłów w kontemplacji w księ¬dze VII i IX “Wyznań” Augustyna, VoxP 33 (2013) vol. 60, 339-358.
Stróżyński M., Filozofia jako terapia w pismach Marka Aureliusz, Plotyna i Augustyna, Poznań 2014.
Teske R.J., Anima, in: Agostino Dizionario Enciclopedico, ed. A. Fitzgerald, ed. italiana L. Alici – A. Pieretti, Roma 2007, 189-195.
Woźniak R.J., Materialno-biologiczny wymiar obrazu Bożego w człowieku, “Scientia et Fides” 2 (2014) vol. 2, 271-288.
Zumkeller A., Consuetudo, AL I 1253-1266.
Żelazny J.W., Patrystyczna doktryna o powołaniu człowieka do udziału w życiu i godnoś¬ci Boga. Rola Ducha Świętego, in: Człowiek w perspektywie doczesności i wieczno¬ści. Antropocentryzm Ojców Kościoła, red. B. Częsz, Poznań 2006 = TPatr 3 (2006) 57-83.
Download

Published
2018-12-16


Terka, M. (2018). Man’s animality in the light of st. Augustine’s philosophical works. Vox Patrum, 67, 631–652. https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.3419

Mariusz Terka 
Wyższy Instytut Teologiczny w Częstochowie



License

Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.