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Single Idea 7821
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / b. Types of good
]
Full Idea
Augustine claimed that the pagan schools between them had produced nearly three hundred different definitions of the highest good.
Gist of Idea
Pagans produced three hundred definitions of the highest good
Source
report of Augustine (works [c.415]) by A.C. Grayling - What is Good? Ch.5
Book Ref
Grayling,A.C.: 'What is Good? The Best Way to Live' [Phoenix 2003], p.116
A Reaction
I would expect the right definition to be in there somewhere, but no doubt Augustine's definition made it 301. Perhaps the biggest problem of human life is that (as with the Kennedy assassination) proliferating stories obscure the true story.
The
33 ideas
from Augustine
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16702
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All things are in the present time to God
[Augustine]
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3912
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I must exist in order to be mistaken, so that even if I am mistaken, I can't be wrong about my own existence
[Augustine]
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6683
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The contact of spirit and body is utterly amazing, and incomprehensible
[Augustine]
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22887
|
If God existed before creation, why would a perfect being desire to change things?
[Augustine, by Bardon]
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22888
|
To be aware of time it can only exist in the mind, as memory or anticipation
[Augustine, by Bardon]
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22976
|
Memories are preserved separately, according to category
[Augustine]
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22978
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Memory is so vast that I cannot recognise it as part of my mind
[Augustine]
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22977
|
I can distinguish different smells even when I am not experiencing them
[Augustine]
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22979
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Three main questions seem to be whether a thing is, what it is, and what sort it is
[Augustine]
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22980
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Memory contains innumerable principles of maths, as well as past sense experiences
[Augustine]
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22983
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We would avoid remembering sorrow or fear if that triggered the emotions afresh
[Augustine]
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22982
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Why does joy in my mind make me happy, but joy in my memory doesn't?
[Augustine]
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22981
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Mind and memory are the same, as shown in 'bear it in mind' or 'it slipped from mind'
[Augustine]
|
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22984
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Without memory I could not even speak of myself
[Augustine]
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22985
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Everyone wants happiness
[Augustine]
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5976
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If God is outside time in eternity, can He hear prayers?
[Augustine]
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5977
|
Heaven and earth must be created, because they are subject to change
[Augustine]
|
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5979
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If the past is no longer, and the future is not yet, how can they exist?
[Augustine]
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5978
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I know what time is, until someone asks me to explain it
[Augustine]
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5981
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The whole of the current year is not present, so how can it exist?
[Augustine]
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5980
|
How can ten days ahead be a short time, if it doesn't exist?
[Augustine]
|
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5982
|
If the future does not exist, how can prophets see it?
[Augustine]
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5983
|
I disagree with the idea that time is nothing but cosmic movement
[Augustine]
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5984
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Maybe time is an extension of the mind
[Augustine]
|
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16588
|
I prefer a lack of form to mean non-existence, than to think of some quasi-existence
[Augustine]
|
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4348
|
Love, and do what you will
[Augustine]
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22117
|
Our minds grasp reality by direct illumination (rather than abstraction from experience)
[Augustine, by Matthews]
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22167
|
Our images of bodies are not produced by the bodies, but by our own minds
[Augustine, by Aquinas]
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22118
|
Augustine created the modern concept of the will
[Augustine, by Matthews]
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7821
|
Pagans produced three hundred definitions of the highest good
[Augustine, by Grayling]
|
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22119
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Augustine said (unusually) that 'ought' does not imply 'can'
[Augustine, by Matthews]
|
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22116
|
Augustine identified Donatism, Pelagianism and Manicheism as the main heresies
[Augustine, by Matthews]
|
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19338
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Augustine said evil does not really exist, and evil is a limitation in goodness
[Augustine, by Perkins]
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