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Emotion: The Stoics Vs. Augustine

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A major element discussed throughout moral philosophy is emotion. The Stoics and Augustine have similar views, but both have distinctive characteristics about their view that is different from the other view. The Stoics are very one sided and disregard any type of emotion. While Augustine feels this is sometimes the case, he also feels that emotions are necessary to help guide a person to what is good. Likewise, both views incorporate God and relate Him to emotions, or lack thereof. I accept Augustine’s view on emotions because in order to live an intrinsically good life, one must have emotion combined with reason, to guide what is the best course of action for him or her.
Stoics believe people do not always know the right thing to do, therefore can be deceived. Their views of deception comes from their belief that emotions are intrinsically bad. There are three major components to their theory: involuntary reaction, agreement or disagreement, and emotion. The involuntary reaction is best described as something a person has no …show more content…
The Stoics believe the universe is intelligent and divide. They do not believe God created the world, but instead God is the universe. God’s mind is all of the thinking in the universe, which happens to be conscious. We are all apart of God and his mind. This benefits us because God gives us high moral status that other things in universe don’t have. Humans are all divine in some sense because we have a part of God’s mind in us. As a result, everything is interconnected because of God. Augustine believes this, yet he believes a problem remains: the word and meaning of God. Augustine believes the Stoics are using language in the wrong way. He states God doesn’t have emotion and everything that exists has something good to it. For instance, a rock is good and has a purpose due to the sole fact it exists. As one can see, Augustine refutes the Stoics belief on

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