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Single Idea 22119
[filed under theme 23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 2. Duty
]
Full Idea
Augustine insisted that 'ought' does not, in any straightforward way, imply 'can' - which distinguishes him from most modern ethicists.
Gist of Idea
Augustine said (unusually) that 'ought' does not imply 'can'
Source
report of Augustine (works [c.415]) by Gareth B. Matthews - Augustine p.74
Book Ref
'Shorter Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Craig,Edward [Routledge 2005], p.74
A Reaction
Not unreasonable. I ought to help my ailing friend who lives abroad, but I haven't the time or money to do it. We can experience impossibilities as duties. Impossibilities are just excuses. Augustine is opposing the Pelagian heresy.
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
|
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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22978
|
Memory is so vast that I cannot recognise it as part of my mind
[Augustine]
|
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22976
|
Memories are preserved separately, according to category
[Augustine]
|
|
22977
|
I can distinguish different smells even when I am not experiencing them
[Augustine]
|
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22979
|
Three main questions seem to be whether a thing is, what it is, and what sort it is
[Augustine]
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22980
|
Memory contains innumerable principles of maths, as well as past sense experiences
[Augustine]
|
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22981
|
Mind and memory are the same, as shown in 'bear it in mind' or 'it slipped from mind'
[Augustine]
|
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22982
|
Why does joy in my mind make me happy, but joy in my memory doesn't?
[Augustine]
|
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22983
|
We would avoid remembering sorrow or fear if that triggered the emotions afresh
[Augustine]
|
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22984
|
Without memory I could not even speak of myself
[Augustine]
|
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22985
|
Everyone wants happiness
[Augustine]
|
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5976
|
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]
|
|
5979
|
If the past is no longer, and the future is not yet, how can they exist?
[Augustine]
|
|
5978
|
I know what time is, until someone asks me to explain it
[Augustine]
|
|
5981
|
The whole of the current year is not present, so how can it exist?
[Augustine]
|
|
5980
|
How can ten days ahead be a short time, if it doesn't exist?
[Augustine]
|
|
5982
|
If the future does not exist, how can prophets see it?
[Augustine]
|
|
5983
|
I disagree with the idea that time is nothing but cosmic movement
[Augustine]
|
|
5984
|
Maybe time is an extension of the mind
[Augustine]
|
|
16588
|
I prefer a lack of form to mean non-existence, than to think of some quasi-existence
[Augustine]
|
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22118
|
Augustine created the modern concept of the will
[Augustine, by Matthews]
|
|
7821
|
Pagans produced three hundred definitions of the highest good
[Augustine, by Grayling]
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4348
|
Love, and do what you will
[Augustine]
|
|
22167
|
Our images of bodies are not produced by the bodies, but by our own minds
[Augustine, by Aquinas]
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|
22117
|
Our minds grasp reality by direct illumination (rather than abstraction from experience)
[Augustine, by Matthews]
|
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22119
|
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]
|
|
19338
|
Augustine said evil does not really exist, and evil is a limitation in goodness
[Augustine, by Perkins]
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