There are many different ways to understand the world: ontologically, epistemologically, and ethically. All of these intellectual understandings are interconnected in such a way that there is no straightforward way to understand the world. Ontology, what is known, can lead to epistemology, how it is known. Yet, ethics can also lead to epistemology or ontology, or vice versa. In his book Confessions, St. Augustine explores the cohesive interconnectedness of ontology, epistemology, and ethics. He came to know the world through these three pathways through his childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and his conversion to Christianity. Through his experiences, teachings, and explorations of different faiths, St. Augustine explains his ontological, epistemological,
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Augustine discovered and believed in multiple religions in an effort to understand the truth. From Manicheism to astrology, he struggled to fill the hunger felt from gaining an ontological understanding of God. After meeting Ambrose, St. Augustine began to consider the Catholic faith, “Yet every Sunday I listened as he preached the word of truth to the people, and I grew more and more certain that it was possible to unravel the tangle woven by those who had deceived me and others with their cunning lies against the Holy Scriptures” (VI.3.114). St. Augustine’s ontological understanding that there is a God expanded as he began to understand that He is omnipotent and omniscient. Nonetheless, his ethics still strayed towards a sinful life, “I was eager for fame and wealth and marriage, but you only derided these ambitions” (VI.6.118). Ethically, St. Augustine still followed his passions including his passion for sexual intercourse without the commitment of marriage, “Meanwhile I was sinning more and more. The woman with whom I had been living was torn from my side as an obstacle to my marriage...I was more a slave of lust than a true lover of marriage, I took another mistress” (VI.15.131). Yet, his ethical decisions to continue down his sinful path put him through pain every day. St. Augustine’s ontological understanding of God and his suffering from his ethical decisions led him to explore the epistemological meaning behind his beliefs and God in …show more content…
Augustine would approach a scholar of that religion to gain epistemological insight to the ontology presented. Throughout his adulthood, he begins to accept that he may not be able to prove the truth nor what he believes in. He struggled with what was true and what was a lie, “But although my mind was full of questions and I was restless to argue out my problems, I did not pour out my sorrows to you, praying for your help” (VI.3.113). St. Augustine’s ontological understanding of God presented him with a restless, curious mind, and led to his epistemological discoveries. He began by examining the scriptures to prove what he knew as the truth, “I was glad too that I had been shown how to interpret the ancient scriptures of the law and the prophets in a different light from that which had previously made them absurd” (VI.4.115). St. Augustine pursued intellectual engagement of scriptures all the while questioning, how does he know what he knows? His sudden realization, “I began to realize that I had believed countless thing which I had never seen or which had taken place when I was not there to see” (VI.5.117), led to his epistemological understanding of God and the world, “it seemed to me all the more right that the authority of Scripture should be respected and accepted with the purest faith, because while all can read it with ease, it has a deeper meaning in which its great secrets are locked away”
Augustine discovered and believed in multiple religions in an effort to understand the truth. From Manicheism to astrology, he struggled to fill the hunger felt from gaining an ontological understanding of God. After meeting Ambrose, St. Augustine began to consider the Catholic faith, “Yet every Sunday I listened as he preached the word of truth to the people, and I grew more and more certain that it was possible to unravel the tangle woven by those who had deceived me and others with their cunning lies against the Holy Scriptures” (VI.3.114). St. Augustine’s ontological understanding that there is a God expanded as he began to understand that He is omnipotent and omniscient. Nonetheless, his ethics still strayed towards a sinful life, “I was eager for fame and wealth and marriage, but you only derided these ambitions” (VI.6.118). Ethically, St. Augustine still followed his passions including his passion for sexual intercourse without the commitment of marriage, “Meanwhile I was sinning more and more. The woman with whom I had been living was torn from my side as an obstacle to my marriage...I was more a slave of lust than a true lover of marriage, I took another mistress” (VI.15.131). Yet, his ethical decisions to continue down his sinful path put him through pain every day. St. Augustine’s ontological understanding of God and his suffering from his ethical decisions led him to explore the epistemological meaning behind his beliefs and God in …show more content…
Augustine would approach a scholar of that religion to gain epistemological insight to the ontology presented. Throughout his adulthood, he begins to accept that he may not be able to prove the truth nor what he believes in. He struggled with what was true and what was a lie, “But although my mind was full of questions and I was restless to argue out my problems, I did not pour out my sorrows to you, praying for your help” (VI.3.113). St. Augustine’s ontological understanding of God presented him with a restless, curious mind, and led to his epistemological discoveries. He began by examining the scriptures to prove what he knew as the truth, “I was glad too that I had been shown how to interpret the ancient scriptures of the law and the prophets in a different light from that which had previously made them absurd” (VI.4.115). St. Augustine pursued intellectual engagement of scriptures all the while questioning, how does he know what he knows? His sudden realization, “I began to realize that I had believed countless thing which I had never seen or which had taken place when I was not there to see” (VI.5.117), led to his epistemological understanding of God and the world, “it seemed to me all the more right that the authority of Scripture should be respected and accepted with the purest faith, because while all can read it with ease, it has a deeper meaning in which its great secrets are locked away”