Summary of PhD thesis: Vu Thi Hai

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

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VU THI HAI

PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT

OF AUGUSTINO

Major: CNDVBC & CNDVLS

Code: 62 22 03 02

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS IN PHILOSOPHY

HANOI - 2019

Project completed at:

University of Social Sciences and Humanities,

Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Scientific supervisor: 1. Associate Professor, Dr. NGUYEN QUANG HUNG

Objection 1:

Objection 2:

Objection 3:

The thesis was defended before the Doctoral Thesis Evaluation Council meeting at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi at hour, date, month, year 20

Thesis can be found at:

- National Library of Vietnam

- Information Center - Library, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

INTRODUCTION

1. Reason for choosingtopic

Augustine is one of the greatest thinkers of the Catholic Church, a famous bishop who is considered a saint, an intellectual of all time. His consecrated life and intellectual stature have had a special influence on the Catholic Church as well as on Western culture from the Middle Ages to the present day. David E Cooper - a British scholar and philosopher said: "It will take a long time for Christian philosophy to produce figures of the stature of Augustine" [14, 148].

It can be said that one of Augustine's greatest contributions to Western thought is anthropology, he is especially famous for his unique discoveries about man in his inner world. Augustine's subtle exploration of anthropology has brought practical guidance in the practice of ethics and spirituality to lead people to true happiness. His influence on the Catholic Church in particular and Western culture in general is not only limited to the theoretical aspect but also profound in the practical aspect.

After more than three decades since the implementation of the Renovation (1986) until now, along with the globalization and international integration process, Vietnam has achieved great achievements in many fields, especially remarkable progress in the economic field. The material life of the people has been fundamentally improved, bringing Vietnam out of the list of 10 poorest countries in the world in the 90s of the 20th century. However, while material life has become prosperous, we are witnessing the degradation of morality and many areas of spiritual culture of society. People are engrossed in pursuing worldly passions such as power, fame, money, status, etc., forgetting the noble human values. In that context, the study of Eastern and Western philosophy is promoted with the aim of inheriting the quintessence of human values ​​in the cause of developing the nation's culture, overcoming the degradation of human morality and lifestyle.

Also in that context, Christian philosophy in general, and Augustine philosophy in particular, began to be studied. Christian philosophy is a unique philosophy with its own character, having a particularly great influence on Western culture, if not to say that it has contributed to the character of Western people. For a long time, the study of Christian philosophy in Vietnam has been quite limited, mostly concentrated in seminaries of the Catholic Church and mainly approached from the religious and theological perspective. Besides, in Vietnam today, there are still some prejudices about Christian philosophy, such as considering medieval Western European philosophy as the "long dark ages", referring to a long period in which culture and science did not make any progress. However, history has proven that Christian philosophy through Christianity has had a great influence on human life, especially in orienting the values ​​of life and the practice of ethics and spirituality of Western people, and at the same time contributing significantly to the brilliant achievements of culture. In the context of Vietnam facing the decline of lifestyle ethics, the study of Christian philosophy in general and Augustinian philosophy in particular has practical significance both in theory and practice.

As mentioned above, Augustine is one of the outstanding thinkers of the Catholic Church, who has had an extremely great influence on the development of the Catholic Church in both theory and practice. However, the current research on Augustine's philosophy in Vietnam mostly stops at studying some of Augustine's philosophical and theological thoughts in a certain field, and there is a lack of systematic monographs on this thinker. Therefore, the author of the thesis wants to contribute a small part in the effort to research and clarify his philosophical and theological thoughts, because we believe that many of his thoughts are still completely useful for improving the cultural and spiritual life in Vietnam today.

For the above reasons, the researcher chose the topic "Augustine's philosophical thoughts"do my thesis

2.Purpose and missionof the thesis

The purpose of the thesis is to present systematically and in depth the philosophical thought of Augustine, thereby pointing out the contributions and limitations of that system of thought.

Specific tasks are as follows:

- Clarifying the conditions and premises for the birth of Augustine's philosophy.

- Research and clarify the basic contents of Augustine's philosophical thought, focusing on the following issues: ontology, anthropology, ethics and epistemology.

- Analyze and evaluate the contributions and limitations of Augustino's philosophical thought.

3. Subject and scope of the thesis research

Thesis research object: Augustine's philosophical thought.

Scope of the thesis: In terms of content, based on the human issue as the center, the thesis will focus on clarifying the basic contents in Augustino's philosophical ideology system, which are the issues: ontology, anthropology, epistemology and ethics. In terms of documents, the thesis focuses on researching the worksAutobiography(Confessions)- one of Augustine's most famous works.In addition, the thesis also uses quotes from some other works of the philosopher such as:Monologue (Soliloquia),On the Immortality of the Soul (De immortalitate animae),On free will (De libero arbitrio), the Trinity (De Trinitate), the City of God (De civitate).

4. Theoretical basis and research methods

Theoretical basis: The thesis is conducted on the theoretical basis of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, Marxist viewpoint in the study of the history of philosophy.

Research method: the author uses the main research methods of dialectical materialism such as: going from abstract to concrete, unifying logic and history, unifying analysis and synthesis, unifying induction and deduction, comparative method, generalization method, abstraction method, etc.

5. Contribution of the thesis

- The thesis analyzes and clarifies the most important conditions and premises for the birth of Augustinian philosophy.

- The thesis has systematized and analyzed in depth the basic contents of Augustino's philosophical thought such as: ontology, anthropology, ethics and epistemology.

- The thesis has analyzed and clarified the contributions and limitations in Augustino's philosophical thought from the cultural perspective and Marxist stance.

6. Theoretical and practical significance of the thesis

In theory, on the basis of carrying out the research tasks mentioned above, the thesis contributes to a systematic and in-depth study of the philosophical thought of one of the greatest philosophers and theologians of medieval Christian philosophy.

In practice, the thesis can be used as a reference for research and teaching of Christian philosophy in particular and Western philosophy in general. In addition, the thesis can also be used as a reference for learning and research in the fields of anthropology and philosophy of religion.

7.The structure ofthesis

In addition to the introduction, conclusion, list of references and list of the author's works related to the thesis that have been published, the thesis consists of 4 chapters and 10 sections.

CONTENT

CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH RELATED TO THE TOPIC "AUGUSTINO'S PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT"

1.1. Research works related to the conditions and premises for the birth of Augustino's philosophical thought

-Some domestic research works mention the conditions and premises for the birth of Augustino's philosophical thought:History of ideas before Marxby Tran Duc Thao (1995);Ancient Western philosophy influences Christianityby Phan Van Tinh(2010);Back to the Source. The Time of the Church Fathers (Volume Two)by Phan Tan Thanh(2013).

- Some foreign research works have mentioned the conditions and premises for the birth of Augustinian philosophical thought, typically:Philosophical storyby Bryan Magee (2003);Schools of philosophy in the worldby David E Cooper (2005);The process of transformation of Western thoughtby Richard Tarnas (2008) etc.

1.2. Research works related to Augustine's philosophical thoughts

- Domestic research projects:

Some general studies on Augustino's entire philosophical thought are:History of Western Philosophy. Volume II: The Middle Agesby Nguyen Trong Vien (1998),History of Western Philosophy. Volume III. Medieval Philosophyby Le Ton Nghiem (2000);Western European medieval philosophyby Doan Chinh and Dinh Ngoc Thach (2008);History of Western Philosophy. Volume 1: Ancient Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Renaissance Philosophyby Do Minh Hop (2014). The common point of the above works is that they have presented in a general and systematic way the most prominent thoughts in Augustino's philosophy.

Among the research works on Augustino's philosophical thought, besides the general and general studies, there are also works that delve into each separate issue. Some works on ontology are:God of the Gospel. Triune God.by Nguyen Van Khanh,The mystery of one God in three personsof Tan Yen. Some works on anthropology:Spiritual lifeby Phan Tan Thanh (2002);Christian Anthropologyby Le Van Chinh (2005);Christian Anthropology. Volume 2: Original Sin and Graceby Tran Ngoc Anh (2015).

- Foreign research projects:

Some comprehensive and systematic research works on Augustine's thoughts include:Introduction à l'étude de Saint Augustin, Vrin by Étienne Gilson (1929);Study of Philosophy(History of Philosophy) by Johannes Hirschberger (1948);A History of philosophy. Volume II: Medieval philosophyby Frederick Copleston (1993).

Some studies related to ontological issues such as:Medieval cultural categoriesby AJA Gurevich (1998), which analyzes Augustine's concept of time;The Mystery of the Trinity Wallby Michel Rondet(2010) is one of the representative works presenting the history of the concept of the Trinity;Genesis through the authorsGeorg Kraus's work on the question of creation. Some anthropological studies include:The Structure of the Human Mind According to Augustine. Self - reflection and Knowledge of God in De Trinitateby Johannes Brachtendorf (2000);Theological humanism through authorsby Georg Langemeyer. Some studies on ethics such as:Modern ethics: origins and problemsby Elena Vxevolodovna Zolotkhina - Abolina (1998);The moral theory and applied of saint Augustine of Hippo as presented in “in Iohannis evangelium tractatus” and “in epistulam Iohannis ad parthos”by John Paschal Bane (1998);Introduction to Western Philosophyby Samuel Enoch Stumpf and Donald C. Abel (2004);The cardinal virtues in the middle ages: A study moral thought from the fourth to the fourteenth centuryby István P. Bejczy (2011) etc.

1.3. Research works related to the evaluation of Augustine's philosophy

One of the most prominent books in Vietnam researching Augustino's life and career, as well as his influence on the current generation of young Vietnamese Catholics, isAugustine. The saint of today's youthby Jorathe Purple Sun(2016).

Some of the monographs by foreign scholars that more or less contain comments and assessments on Augustino's philosophical thoughts include:The Saints that Moved the World: Anthony, Augustine, Francis, Ignatius, Theresaby René Fúlop–Miller (1945);Great Christian Thinkersby Hans Kung (2010);Journey to discover the world of Western philosophyby William F. Lawhead (2012).

1.4. Thesis issues that need further research

Through an overview of the research situation related to the topic "Augustine's philosophical thoughts", we will summarize the achievements of previous studies and identify the thesis issues that need further research:

The first, in the above research works with different purposes and approaches, more or less mentioned the conditions and premises for the birth of Augustinian philosophy, however, there has not been any work that has researched in a specialized and systematic way, so we will try to overcome those limitations to present a more systematic and comprehensive way on this issue.

Monday, the philosophical thought of Augustino has been studied by domestic and foreign scholars. Typical domestic scholars include: Nguyen Trong Vien, Le Ton Nghiem, Phan Tan Thanh, Do Minh Hop, Doan Chinh and Dinh Ngoc Thach. One of the leading and most representative experts in the field of Christian philosophy research is Étienne Gilson, in addition to researchers Johannes Hirschberger and Frederick Copleston. Scholars have brought systematic and general studies on Augustino's philosophical thought, which are extremely important foundations for further in-depth research on the philosopher's thought. Inheriting previous studies, we will systematically and in-depth present the most important contents of Augustino's philosophical thought, especially providing specific and convincing evidence based on the study of typical works he left behind.

Tuesday, in evaluating Augustine's philosophy, up to now there has been almost no work that has presented a focused approach to this issue. The studies that we have had access to mainly emphasize the value aspect and rarely mention the limitations in Augustine's ideological system. On the basis of inheriting previous studies and systematically studying Augustine's philosophical thought, we will bring some comments on his philosophical thought from the Marxist standpoint. And, we consider this a particularly important task of this study.

CHAPTER 2. CONDITIONS AND PREMISES FOR THE BIRTH OF AUGUSTINE'S PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT

2.1. Conditionsfor the birth of Augustine's philosophical thought

2.1.1.Historical context

Augustine lived in the late 4th and early 5th centuries, during the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages in the West. Roman society was facing a crisis in all aspects of social life: the economy was in decline, politics was in a serious crisis, and social conflicts could not be resolved. The crisis in economic, political, and social life in Rome was pushed to its peak by the invasion of the German barbarians. In 476, the German military leader overthrew the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, became emperor, and officially established the feudal system. This event marked the official demise of slavery in history, Western society entered the path of feudalism, and the medieval period officially began.

2.1.2. Spiritual and cultural context

Augustinian philosophy was formed and developed in the context of Roman culture flourishing in all fields: natural science, literature, history, art, philosophy and religion. In particular, the formation and development of Christianity in the first centuries AD is evidence of a turning point in culture that fundamentally changed the consciousness of Western people. In the first centuries AD, Christianity not only faced persecution from the government and opposition from other religions, but also had to face internal conflicts due to the emergence of heresies and heresies, and this was the origin of patristics. In 313, Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan recognizing the legal status of Christianity, and then in 380, Christianity was recognized as the state religion. This turning point created new requirements, requiring the Church Fathers to focus on developing and deepening the system of beliefs to bring Christianity to a new level. This was an important mission that Augustine and many Christian intellectuals had to undertake, and this context directly influenced the formation and development of his thoughts.

2.2. Ideological premises of Augustine's philosophy

2.2.1. Some Greek philosophers who influenced Augustine

Augustine's philosophical thought was formed and developed in the atmosphere of the Greek philosophical tradition. He found Greek philosophy to be a useful intellectual means for explaining Christian dogmas, for the advancement of theology, and for Christianity to easily penetrate and spread into the identity of Western culture. He was influenced by many philosophers and different schools of Greek philosophy, but most notably Plato and Neoplatonism - the schools that had the most direct and profound influence on him in many areas of thought.

2.2.2. Bible

It is undeniable that Greek philosophy had a direct and profound influence on Augustine, but the Bible was the real spiritual pillar of his entire system of thought. For Augustine, the Bible was the solid, immutable and undeniable foundation of truth, and his task, as well as that of Christian philosophers and theologians, was to continue to clarify the system of dogmas established in the Bible. Here, we focus on analyzing the influence of the Bible on Augustine in the following fundamental issues: God, creationism, evil and sin, knowledge and salvation history.

2.2.3. Philo and the early Church Fathers

Augustine's philosophy was influenced first by the foundation of revealed truth in the Bible, then by Greek philosophy and finally by patrism. The Church Fathers of the first centuries AD provided premises, arguments and especially important directions that helped Augustine develop his system of thought. He was influenced by the Church Fathers especially in the spirit of reconciling revealed truth with Greek rational culture, they themselves paved the way for him in completing the marriage between the Greek tradition and the Judeo-Christian tradition.

2.3. Augustine - the man and his typical works

Augustine was born on November 13, 354 in Tagaste, North Africa (formerly part of the Roman Empire), a small city in the province of Numidia, present-day Algeria. He was born into a family with a pagan father and a devout Christian mother. As a child, Augustine was a playful child with countless tricks, lies, theft, etc. In his youth, he was absorbed in pursuing the passions of secular life: status, fame, money and love, etc. He studied and became one of the famous orators of that time. The turning point in Augustine's life was when he resigned from his position as a professor of rhetoric, converted to Christianity and was baptized by Bishop Ambrosio in 387. Since becoming Bishop of Hippo, he has made many contributions to the Catholic Church. In 429, the Vandal army invaded North Africa. In 430, the city of Hippo fell, and Augustine died on August 28, 430 at the age of 76. Augustine left the Church and Western culture a huge spiritual legacy, including about 232 works of various genres such as: autobiography, philosophy, apologetics, dogma, refuting, biblical commentary, ethics, letters, and speeches. They are considered an encyclopedia of the Catholic Church.

CONCLUDECHAPTER 2

Augustine's philosophy was formed and developed in the historical context of the first centuries AD, the transition period from the ancient period to the Middle Ages, the period of decline of the slave-owning regime, but the seeds of the feudal regime appeared. The Roman Empire fell into a comprehensive economic, political, cultural and social crisis, so it was considered the darkest period in Roman history. This period also contained many cultural and spiritual changes in Western society, the highlight of which was the formation and development of Christianity associated with its internal contradictions and external conflicts. The cultural and spiritual life of Western Europe became complicated, the interweaving of the old and the new, old traditions were gradually fading away and new traditions began to form and develop. That historical and cultural and spiritual context determined Augustine's philosophy in both content and development trends. That shows that any doctrine or ideological system of any era is a product distilled from all the conditions and premises of that era, as Karl Marx once affirmed: “Philosophers are not mushrooms growing on the ground. They are products of their era, their people, whose most subtle, precious and invisible energies have been reflected in philosophical concepts.”

Greek philosophy, the Bible and early patristics are the paths to Augustine's philosophy. Of these three sources of thought, the Bible is the spiritual pillar, the most important foundation of the truth of faith that governs Augustine's thought in a comprehensive way. Greek culture is the philosophical premise that provides rational arguments to strengthen the truth of faith. Patristics has opened up the idea of ​​the marriage between cultural traditions. On that basis, Augustine thoroughly carried out the marriage between two cultural traditions and unified them into a common stream. It is a marriage of great historical significance not only for Christianity but also for the entire development of Western culture, ending the era of pluralism of truths towards monism of truths, establishing a unity of Western culture from within its identity.

One of the factors that had a significant influence on Augustino's philosophical thought is the complex changes in the philosopher's life and career. His life has proven the famous saying: "There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future". His life is a journey from a playboy, a debaucher, immersed in the desires of worldly life to return to a holy life. His life is also a journey of intense desires to find true truth. The ups and downs in life, the inner struggles are the practical materials that help him find solid truths. He left humanity a great spiritual legacy with many monumental works that contain unique ideas, inspiring future generations in many fields: theology, philosophy, science, literature, history, etc. He is considered one of the greatest theologians and philosophers in the history of Christian thought. The Catholic Church is grateful and honors him, and Western culture cannot help but recognize his name and contributions in creating its glory.

CHAPTER 3. AUGUSTINO'S ONTIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

3.1. Augustine's ontology

3.1.1. Proof of God

The starting point for the entire process of proving God established by Augustine is “Believe to understand, understand to believe” (Credo intelligere, intelligere credere), which means that in order to prove the true existence of God, one must first believe in God. Augustine presented many different arguments, but here we mention the four most basic arguments:Arguments from truth; Arguments from wisdom; Arguments from the nature of things or shapes and numbers; Arguments from the world of things.The above arguments have a unity between the reflection of reason and the experience of faith, they are different stages in a process of tracing back to prove the eternal source which is the supreme God. It seems that he tried to remind Christians of a “truth” rather than to bring a systematic demonstration of God.

3.1.2. The nature of God

Proving God is the basis for Augustine to discuss the nature of God. The problem of God's nature is presented by him in a number of works such as:Autobiography, Monologue, Ethics of the Catholic Church, On the Nature of GoodThrough his works, Augustine highlighted the following basic arguments: God is an infinite, immutable, eternal spiritual being; God is absolute good; God is the Trinity; God is omnipotent, the first cause - the cause of all causes.

3.1.3. Creationism

In the theory of creation, Augustine focused on discussing the following essential issues: God created from nothing, the process of creation, the purpose and order of the world, the nature of time. Accordingly, because of love and in absolute freedom, God created the world of all things from nothing. God created all things from the first matter and eternal form. The world of all things created by God is good in its nature, they are arranged in an orderly manner, have an intrinsic purpose, and at the same time aim towards a purpose in their wholeness, and they operate according to eternal law or God's predestined plan. Regarding time, Augustine explained two issues: the nature of time and the measurement of time. He believed that the nature of time is always the present: the past is the present of the past, the present is the present of the present, and the future is the present of the future. The length or shortness of time depends on the perception of the soul. Thus, in Augustine's view, time is subjective and time is relative.

3.2. Anthropology

3.2.1. Origin and nature of man

According to Augustine, man is not only a true, living being but also an excellent, preeminent being in the created world. Augustine continues to explain and develop the dogma established in the Bible that man is created by God in His image. Physical parents are only the means that God uses to carry out His creative act. Man is created in the image of God not because he has a perfect body but because he is an intelligent, rational being, so he is ranked at the highest level of existence. The nature of man is a whole of soul and body, however, that essence is essentially expressed in the soul, the soul is the life of the body, while the body is only the outer material shell.

3.2.2. About the soul

In his conception of the soul, Augustine goes into two main issues: the origin, nature and structure of the soul..There is one undeniable thing, God is the creator of man, therefore He is the author of the soul. However, to explain specifically the process of creating human generations, Augustine leans towards the theory of transmigration. The nature of the soul is a mystery and has never been explained specifically in Western thought before Augustine. Augustine argues that the soul is an immaterial spiritual entity with simple, invisible characteristics. Another essence of the soul is immortality, because the soul contains the spirit (understood in the narrow sense) that makes it immortal. The soul has a three-part structure, including: memory, reason and will. They are not three parts of a body but the capacity of a single soul entity.

3.2.3. Free will and inner experience

Do humans have free will?Regarding this issue, Augustine believes that free will is first of all a good gift that God gives to man, however, there is no such thing as free will in the absolute sense, but only free will within the predestined limits of God. In other words, God created man and gave him the right to free will, but every free choice of the will is within His predestined plan.

As he penetrated into his own inner life, Augustine realized that the existential nature of human existence is especially manifested in inner conflicts and crises, which he called “diseases of the soul.” It is the conflict between the holy will originating from God and the vulgar will originating from the human body. Only when the holy will overcomes the vulgar will can we attain true happiness. Although he examined human beings from many aspects, Augustine still believed that the nature of human existence was a great mystery that his mind could not grasp completely and clearly.

CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER 3

It can be seen that Augustine has gone into the most core issues of ontology raised from the Greek tradition and the Judeo-Christian tradition. Augustine's ontology revolves around several issues: Where do things come from and what is their nature? Is there a supreme being, God, and if so, what is God's nature? Standing on the foundation of the truth of Christian faith and borrowing the theoretical core of Greek philosophy, Augustine proved that God exists and He is an immaterial, infinite, immutable, eternal, perfect, omnipotent and unique spiritual being. God is the source of creation and providence of the world. The world of things created by God has a purpose, order and goodness from its very nature. Things are made up of two elements: form and matter, in which form is the essential factor that determines the nature of things.

In his reflections on anthropology, from a metaphysical approach, Augustine demonstrated that man is a true existence, the pinnacle of the world of things, created by God in His image. The essence of man is a rational soul possessing a magnetic body. The soul is an immaterial, immortal spiritual entity with a threefold structure including memory, reason and will. Man is the image of God not only because he is a rational soul but also because he is a soul with a threefold structure similar to the structure of the Trinity: Father - Son - Holy Spirit, so to know God must be through the soul and to know the soul must be through God. From a historical approach, Augustine pointed out that man is a free existence in the predestination and grace of God. The nature of human existence is revealed in the extremely complex inner world with indulged emotions, crises and inner conflicts when faced with choices in life. The free choice of the will will lead people into the moral world and the journey to find the ultimate truth, which is God. From here, Augustine's anthropology will continue to be developed in ethics and epistemology as an extended anthropology in thinking about human moral and cognitive capacities.

Ontology and anthropology are two fundamental and most important issues in Augustine's philosophical thought in particular and Christian philosophy in general. They are the starting point for other fields of reflection on ethics, epistemology as well as philosophy of history. It can be seen that, from a Christian perspective, Augustine stood on the foundation of the truth of faith and at the same time inherited the quintessential values ​​of Greek philosophy. He himself brought Christian ontology and anthropology to a new height, surpassing Jewish and Hindu ontology and anthropology by its philosophical arguments, which was his extremely important contribution as a Church Father - a Christian theologian. And, more than that, as a philosopher, Augustine supplemented and developed many contents of ontology and anthropology compared to Greek philosophy, especially in the issues of proving God, time, and the inner world of man. The characteristic of Augustine's theology and philosophy is the desire to go to the end of thinking.

CHAPTER 4. AUGUSTIN'S ETHICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY

4.1. Ethics

4.1.1. Evil

In discussing moral evil, the question is what is the nature of sin?Augustine believed that the essence of sin is man's turning away from God, refusing to obey His commands and commandments to follow his own will. The origin of sin comes from free will, which causes the soul to be divided into two directions with two opposing wills: good will and bad will, also known as the ultimate good and the ultimate evil, thereby putting man in a situation of choice. When we pursue the ultimate good, it means choosing a righteous life and obeying God's commands is also moral goodness, thanks to which we reach true happiness. On the contrary, when we choose the ultimate evil, that is sin. The ultimate evil is the origin of sin and every evil person is the author of his own evil actions. Augustine believed that greed is the root of all evil and greed is based on human nature.

4.1.2. Happiness

Augustine believes that happiness is the ultimate goal of human life, everyone seeks happiness in different ways. The nature of happiness is joy, the pleasure of the soul when we achieve the good we desire. Augustine tried to distinguish between true happiness and false happiness. False happiness is the joy, the pleasure of the soul when people pursue and achieve the good of the created world. True happiness or beatitude is the pleasure that people achieve when pursuing and achieving the highest good, which is God. Augustine calls it unfailing joy, holy joy, pure peace of the soul, and truth is the common denominator for all emotions belonging to true happiness, as he said: true happiness is joy in the truth.

4.1.3. Virtue

Virtue is the art of living rightly, leading man to true happiness. To attain virtue or a righteous life, man needs a process of formation, and the whole process must begin with humility, from which he practices three virtues toward God:faith - hope - loveLove is the soul of Christianity and loving God and loving one's neighbor is the most fundamental and essential commandment of Christian morality. Loving God is expressed through the four basic moral virtues: temperance, courage, justice and wisdom. Loving one's neighbor as oneself is also a manifestation of loving God. Loving one's neighbor is the effort to lead others to the supreme good, which is God. Loving one's neighbor, loving oneself or loving anything in the world must come from love for God and must be directed towards love for God.

4.2. Epistemology

4.2.1. Truth - the purpose of the cognitive process

Augustine believed that the goal of all cognitive processes is truth and that seeking and holding the truth helps us achieve a happy life. Truth is understood as universal, immutable and eternal truth; at the same time, knowledge considered as truth must ensure the principle of identity, that is, identity with the truth or perfect imitation of the truth. The essence of truth is the most perfect reflection of the eternal form. Truth does not reside within the human being, so to seek the truth, we need to return to ourselves.

4.2.2. The dialectic between faith and reason - the means of the cognitive process

According to Augustine, faith and reason are two fundamental and necessary methods for all processes of knowing truth, especially the supreme truth which is God - the truth of all truths. He wrote:“Believe to understand, understand to believe” (intellige ut credas, crede ut intelligas). The role of faith is to establish dogmas, to establish solid truths in the spirit, and from there reason has the task of providing arguments and proofs to explain and clarify that knowledge. To generalize Augustine's concept of the relationship between reason and faith, we can borrow another expression of St. John Paul II in the encyclicalFaith and Reason (Fides and ratio): “Faith and reason are like two wings that help the human mind to soar high in the contemplation of truth.”

4.2.3. Cognitive process and enlightenment theory

Augustine believed that the process of human cognition consists of three stages: cognition by external senses, cognition by internal senses, and cognition by reason. These three stages correspond to sensory cognition and rational cognition, in which sensory cognition includes cognition by external senses and cognition by internal senses, and cognition by reason corresponds to the stage of rational cognition. Augustine believed that humans absolutely cannot reach the truth without being enlightened by the inner teacher, God. And to be enlightened, humans must always keep faith, so the operation of every cognitive process does not go beyond the scope of faith and all knowledge will not go beyond the limits of dogmas.

4.3. Some comments and assessments on Augustino's philosophy

4.3.1. Contributions of Augustine's philosophy

For Western culture, Augustine left a rich spiritual legacy whose remaining works are considered to this day as an encyclopedia of the Catholic Church. He also contributed significantly to the development of Western culture in resolving the internal contradictions of culture, which were the contradictions between the Greek rationalist tradition and the Judeo-Christian faith tradition, thereby unifying the culture into a common stream and creating momentum for the advancement of culture in the following centuries. In addition, Augustine contributed significantly to the advancement of many fields of thought such as: ontology in the concept of creation and time; anthropology in the concept of the soul and inner experience; ethics in the development of the concept of evil, happiness and virtue; epistemology in the expansion of the concept of truth and the process of cognition. In addition, Augustine also made many contributions to the development of historical philosophy, and according to many scholars, he was the first to open up this field of thought.

4.3.2. Limits of Augustine's philosophy

From a Marxist perspective, we see that the overarching characteristic of Augustine's entire philosophy is the absolutization of spiritual life and the downgrading of material life, which in turn leads to negative consequences on the ideological and social levels that last throughout the Middle Ages. In addition, Augustine's philosophical thought also contains certain limitations in the fields of anthropological, epistemological and philosophical reflection on history.

CHAPTER 4 SUMMARY

The expansion of Augustinian anthropology in the field of ethics has solved several particularly important problems related to the practical life of man: the origin and nature of evil, happiness and the way to achieve happiness. Augustine considered free will as the key to unlocking the secrets of the origin of evil. Free will makes man face the situation of having to choose between the ultimate good and the ultimate evil. The choice of the ultimate good is the origin of good and the choice of the ultimate evil is the origin of evil. The essence of evil is nothing other than the abandonment of God's commandments to pursue worldly passions. The ultimate source of evil's greed or Aversion makes man turn away from the absolute good which is God. True happiness as joy in the truth or joy in God is the goal of human life. The path to happiness is the path of pursuing the absolute good that is God, in other words, a righteous or virtuous life whose core is “love of God and love of neighbor”. By solving the fundamental problems of ethics, Augustine provided satisfactory answers to the field of practical life on the level of faith. The most important characteristic of Augustine's ethics is an ethics in which everything is placed under the protection and supervision of God. It is here that he made a great contribution to Christian ethics, especially in explaining the problem of the origin of evil.

Epistemology is also an extension of Augustine's anthropology but goes deeper into the discussion of human cognitive capacity, an aspect of human existence as the image of God. With all his efforts, Augustine proved that humans can completely attain objective truth. Faith and reason are two indispensable methods on the journey to seek truth. The cognitive process starts from the pure truth of faith and ends with the truth of faith that has been clarified by reason. However, although all truths must be established by faith, they do not necessarily have to be established by reason, so faith is both the starting point and the end point of the cognitive process. The absolute condition for all truths to be established in human intelligence is the divine illumination of the inner teacher, God. The characteristic of Augustine's epistemology is the harmonious combination of faith and reason on the absolute foundation of the truth of faith. The change in the object and means of cognition is the fundamental difference between Augustine's epistemology and Greek epistemology. It is also evidence of the transformation of the value system of Western culture from a culture of exclusive reason to a culture of worshipping faith.

If we put aside the mystical nature, Augustine's philosophy has many contributions on all fundamental contents from ontology, anthropology to ethics and epistemology. It can be said that Augustine's most outstanding contribution to Western philosophy is in the field of anthropology - a more comprehensive and profound doctrine than the old anthropology. This is a groundbreaking discovery and also Augustine's most important contribution to Western philosophy. Despite his great contributions to the Catholic Church as well as Western philosophy, Augustine's philosophical thought contains limitations due to the times and partly due to the influence of his ideological stance. His philosophical system is built on the foundation of the truth of faith, so it is covered by mystical idealism. Therefore, all efforts of reason to explain problems are very clear but their values ​​are somewhat reduced when we stand from the standpoint of modern philosophy and science.

CONCLUDE

As one of the great doctors of the Catholic Church, a great thinker of Western philosophy, Augustine has received deep attention from scholars around the world, especially Catholic and Protestant scholars. In Vietnam today, there are not many systematic and in-depth studies on Augustine as well as on Christian philosophy, which shows that Augustine's philosophy in particular and Christian philosophy in general have not really received due attention. That is one of the reasons that urged the author of this thesis to carry out this research topic with the desire to present systematically and in-depth the philosophical thoughts of Augustine, and at the same time provide objective comments on the philosopher's thoughts. Through the study of Augustine's philosophical thoughts, we can draw the following conclusions:

The firstAugustine's philosophy was formed and developed in the context of the transition between two periods: ancient and medieval. The changes in all areas of social life, from economics, politics to culture and religion, directly determined the development trends and content of Augustine's philosophical thoughts. It can be seen that the factor that most directly affected Augustine's philosophy was the complex changes in the history of the development of Christianity in the early stages, including the persecutions of the Roman government, the opposition from the intellectual class influenced by Greek tradition and the internal conflicts among Christian intellectuals in the interpretation of dogmas. That context placed Christianity before great challenges related to its survival and that placed on the shoulders of Christian thinkers the important mission of protecting and developing Christianity, giving this religion a solid position in the cultural and spiritual life of Western Europe. By combining the values ​​of two cultural traditions - the Greek tradition and the Judeo-Christian tradition, Augustine and other Church Fathers successfully resolved the problems that Christianity was facing, contributing significantly to helping Christianity take root and penetrate deeply into the spiritual and cultural life of the West. The marriage between the two cultural traditions is not only significant for the development of Christianity but also has great significance for the development of Western culture. Perhaps, when choosing the direction and building his doctrinal system, Augustine only focused on the most important purpose of applying the values ​​of Greek philosophy to serve the development of the Christian dogma system without thinking of the larger purpose of resolving the internal contradictions of Western culture. However, when carrying out the marriage between the two cultural traditions mentioned above, Augustine made a revolution in the field of cultural ideology. He resolved internal contradictions and unified opposing trends in culture, thereby opening a new era of unity and advancement of Western culture in the following centuries.

Monday, by skillfully combining and connecting two cultural traditions, Augustine has created a perfect picture of the universe from beginning to end. The starting point of Augustine's philosophy is God, the creator and absolute providence of the entire universe. All things are created, arranged and operated according to God's predetermined plan. The pinnacle of creation is man, a superior creature created in the image of God and holding the highest position in the hierarchy of existence, becoming the lord of all species because of his intelligence and spirit. The two basic aspects of human existence are cognition and morality, which are also the two aspects on the path leading man to the supreme good, God, and coming to God is to attain true happiness. If the moral life of each individual is directly related to the happiness of the individual, then social morality is the prerequisite for the happiness of all humanity. The vicissitudes of human history have their direct origin in social morality under the just judgment of God. The goal of the entire historical process is the kingdom of God or the ideal republic, the fulfillment of God's divine predestined plan. Augustine's entire philosophical thought represents a tireless effort to construct a total picture of the universe, a picture so perfect that for more than eight centuries Westerners have been unable to produce anything similar.

Tuesday, with the entire spiritual heritage that Augustine left to humanity, although there are certain historical limitations, no one can deny the enormous values ​​and contributions to Western philosophy, to Christianity and to Western culture.

As a philosopher, as mentioned above, Augustino's contribution to Western philosophy was to build a complete picture of the world from beginning to end. He raised and explained most of the fundamental philosophical problems related to worldview and humanism that were opened up from Greek philosophy and the tradition of Judaism - Christianity. Augustino not only discussed topics that seemed old more thoroughly than his predecessors, contemporaries and even later, but also opened up new and unique problems, especially the problem of human existence in its inner world and about a whole world history. Those topics were returned many centuries later in 20th century existentialism and the philosophy of history in 18th - 19th century German classical philosophy. Augustine was the one who made a revolutionary turning point, opening a new period in the history of Western philosophy. Since then, Western philosophy officially entered the medieval period.

As a theologian, Augustine left a special mark and comprehensive influence on Christian thought. His efforts in solving theological problems such as proving God, creationism, the Trinity, especially the problem of the relationship between faith and reason have become models and standards for Christian theology, which is why he has become one of the most cited theologians of Christian thought in the following periods. His efforts in fighting against heresies, heresies, and internal conflicts in contemporary Christian theology have contributed significantly to the advancement of Christian theology to become one of the exemplary theologies that other religions do not have. Therefore, Christianity has become one of the world religions with extremely strong influence in the past and present.

Regarding his influence on Western culture, it can be seen that Augustino not only had a great influence in the fields of philosophy and theology, but he also had a significant influence on a number of other fields of Western culture and science such as literature, psychology and physics, of which people still refer to him today as the initiator. For a long time, people often approached Augustino as a theologian of the Catholic Church, forgetting that he was one of the great thinkers of Western culture - the one who completed the mission of bringing the forks of Western culture into a unified common flow, the one who contributed to creating an epochal shift that brought Western culture to a new page. With his intelligence and tireless efforts, he distilled all the materials from the past to mold a new system of values ​​(paradigm), providing clearer, more distinct and complete answers to old ideological problems, opening up new problems that enrich and enliven Western culture and become the mold for the entire medieval period and still influence today.

Final, despite many efforts, what the author of the thesis has presented above still has many shortcomings, which need to be supplemented and developed in subsequent studies. The author believes that, as a great saint and doctor who has made enormous contributions to the Catholic Church, Western philosophy and culture, Augustine needs to be studied as one of the great thinkers of the West, who created a turning point in the era of culture, since then all the turns of Western culture have entered a unified flow. Therefore, studies on Augustine's thoughts need to be supplemented and developed in two directions: first, more comprehensive and in-depth studies, not only stopping at some basic contents as presented above but also in relation to theological issues; Second, monographs that focus on specific topics such as anthropology, ethics, or historical philosophy, etc. Expanding research in both depth and breadth will help us gain more objective, comprehensive, and profound assessments and comments about this thinker. At the same time, we can inherit and learn the quintessence of his thoughts, contributing to the building of an advanced and modern culture in the context of globalization and international integration.

LIST OF AUTHOR'S SCIENTIFIC WORKS

RELATED TO THE THESIS

1. Vu Thi Hai (2018),The human problem in Augustine's philosophy, Journal of Science (Hanoi National University of Education) ISSN 2354 - 1075, Volume 63, Issue 5B pp 293 - 300.

2. Vu Thi Hai (2018):Augustine in the eyes of Christians in Vietnam today, International Conference “Christian thinkers in Vietnam and the region: some comparative studies”, Religion Publishing House, pp. 211 - 219.

3. Vu Thi Hai (2018):Good and Evil in Augustine's Ethics, Proceedings of the national scientific conference of pedagogical universities, code: ISBN 978 - 604 - 54 - 4525 - 9, pp. 174 - 178.

4. Vu Thi Hai (2019),Augustine's Anthropology, Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, ISSN 2354 -1172, Vol. 5 No. 2b, pp. 222 - 235.