Comparing Saint Augustine and Charles Taylor's Ideas of Authenticity

Aurelius Augustinius, St. Augustine, was born in 354 A.D. in Tagaste, a town in North Africa. Born just over a century before the fall of Rome, Augustine would live his entire life within the Roman empire. Augustine was a great Christian thinker and wrote numerous works which survive today, and offer us a vivid glimpse into the period. His works and thoughts on Christ, the nature of God, the role of the Church, and myriad other topics, shaped much of medieval thought. He would remain a major influence for 1000 years after he died. Two of his works stand out as possibly the most important of his writings: City of God, and Confessions. Augustine's Confessions is the first ever

In Augustine’s article “Virtue and the Human Soul,” happiness is discussed in great detail. What makes a man happy? How do we obtain this happiness and where does

In The Confessions, Augustine goes on a journey to discover the truth, and purses the ideals of how he should live and what he finds value in. In his pursuit for the truth and his journey through life, Augustine is faced with obstacles that significantly shaped who he is, forming his very thoughts contained in the novel. The obstacles Augustine had to face through his life was the confrontation of sin and why humans perform sinful actions, the passing of his friend, and the passing of his own mother.

“Being authentic means something like living in accordance with one’s own unique values and ideals,” but it is greater than simply being oneself, it is “resisting the imposition of the values and ideals of others” (Pierce 441) as well. Therefore, authenticity is also neglecting to succumb to the beliefs of others to stay true to one’s own beliefs. However, this does not mean that authenticity is static, “an individual should engage in a process of constructing his personhood…. His task in life becomes searching for his true personhood” (381). Personhood should be a journey of finding oneself, figuring out who one is and what one believes in. The act of evolving is part of the discovery, but when “their acts are guided by other people’s ideas of who they should be” (379) it leads to inauthenticity because the change is made solely to fit in. All in all, authenticity is based heavily on truth, because “[it]

protect. A plethora of studies have highlighted the pitfalls and bias of the system with regards to

Just by looking at the surface, one would assume that it would be less expensive to execute a prisoner versus providing them with “three hots and a cot” for the rest of their life. Surprisingly, some people support the death penalty mainly because they view it as a way of cutting costs and saving taxpayer’s money. “This argument is disturbing since it reduces the moral complexity of state imposed killing to a debate over dollars and cent.” However, it has now been firmly established by research conducted in different states and with different data that a modern death penalty sentence costs several times more than an alternative sentence of life in prison without parole.

Growing up in a generation with high expectations of identity that are constantly altering whether it’s the latest trends, styles and even mind-set principles, can be over whelming. When asked to describe one-self, we often are stuck thinking of what particular word could fully describe who we are as a person. We have such a hard time of coming with just one word because there is no form of describing one’s self. How we see ourselves, we may not want to be that the next day. “Looks can be deceiving” or “the first impressions are the most important” is commonly instilled in our mindset which it is true to some extent. Our work

Public opinion plays a huge role in the development of democracy. “A society is unlikely to maintain democratic institutions over the long term, unless democracy has solid support among the public” (Andersen 2012). Most research on the issue demonstrates a positive link between economic development and support for democracy(Andersen 2012). Some researchers also consider social trust (Putnam 1993) and social tolerance (Andersen and Fetner 2008) to be a major factor of support of democracy. Most Americans see unequal economy as a result of individuals work ethics and talent rather then a flaw in the economic system. However, most Americans accept inequality because they believe everyone has the same chances in life to make the best. A properly running government is supposed to make positive that all the citizen are equal. By believing in equal democratic rights Americans support everyone citizen having the same level of equality and the same equal voice in representative government. Since citizens don’t feel that they can trust the government to create and equal ground for all they are much less likely to be involve and participate in political field. Concerned citizens have the right to be worried about the health of our democracy. It seems that the government resounds more often and effectively to the more privileged group in society then to needs of the

Placing value on a life is a sensitive issue, but Syracuse University Professor Thomas J. Kniesner and other professors estimate that the public is willing to pay from $4,000,000 to $10,000,000 to reduce workplace fatalities, that’s $4-$10 million for every life saved. Based only on monetary conditions, and using Professor Kniesner's lowest estimate of $4 million, the lifetime cost of a capital-eligible case that results in a death sentence would need to be more than $56 million for it to be more than the public's willingness to avoid being

1999). Dr. Walter E. Williams provided an idea that the government is denying rights, however, he refuses to discuss the idea of saving lives and health costs. A compromise should exist between rights and responsibility, but the current policy shows a more advantage situation.

For all of history there has existed the struggle between the strong and the weak. The establishment of government gives the power to a particular group to decide the amount of freedom the majority is allowed, however, though not ideal it provides necessary order. The benefits of security that limitations on freedom provides must be balanced with the individual's pursuit of happiness for citizens to be content. To prevent the governed majority from destabilizing the rulers and seeking power, the government will oppress political and personal freedom of thought. In result, the majority will live under the illusion of contentment and not wish to revolt; those enlightened to the idea that the government should be ruled by the governed, would associate happiness only with ignorance and consequently seek freedom.

The idea of the hero in Greco-Roman culture was integrated into the idea of the saint (in the process of conversion and totalization) by way of Christianity's adoption of and ancestry in the Greco-Roman culture. As Professor Ambrosio indicates, "The need and the search for meaning is shared by all human beings" (Hero or Saint Saul of Tarsus). Thus, it is no surprise to find that a pagan Greco-Roman title is applicable to a Christian whose virtue is viewed as greater than that of ordinary men just as the hero is viewed as greater (in fame, bravery, strength) than ordinary men. The fact that two of early Christianity's most heroic figures (St. Paul and St. Augustine) were Roman makes this integration even less surprising. This paper will discuss the way in which the hero is integrated into the idea of the saint by comparing Saul of Tarsus with Augustine of Hippo two men who underwent a conversion and rose to "heroic" or "saintly" heights in terms of Christian virtue.

A weakness of democracy is the “Tyranny of the Majority”. This is an inevitable pitfall, because in a democracy, the power is vested foremost in the people the constituting the society itself. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote on this concept:

In his essay “The Concept of a Person,” Charles Taylor poses the argument that our ability to assess and reassess significances and use them to shape ourselves is what

#2 Explain how Augustine’s conception of freedom relates to compatibilism and to freedom in the sense of autonomy.