Augustine's Confessions 'And The Phaedrus'

The Soul: Good or Evil? There is a constant misconception about the nature of good and evil, what it means, and how it affects one’s soul. However, human nature is much more complex than that, as good and evil cannot be easily defined. Throughout the years, writers and philosophers have been unable to come to a conclusion about the idea, which leads to a variety of standpoints. In Augustine’s Confessions and Plato’s The Phaedrus, we see good and evil through different perspectives. Augustine, for example, both uses and challenges Plato’s ideas of the nature of the soul. He also challenges and transforms the ideas of the Manicheans, a religious group who strongly believed in the influence of outside forces. In George Lucas’s Star Wars, there
As stated in Augustine’s Confessions, “Where then does evil come from, if God made all things and, because he is good, made them good too?” (37). He had come to the conclusion that everything in the universe is good, even that which appears to be evil. Plato however, believed something different, that all good and evil is innate in man. The dual-natured soul is based upon a chariot and categorized into three different parts. The good horse, which is the good part of the soul, is what moves one towards heaven. Then there is the bad horse, or bad part of a person’s soul, which brings you closer to earthly desires. Lastly there is the charioteer, which acts as both the driver and intellect. In Plato’s thoughts, there are equal parts of the soul that are good and bad, whereas Augustine strictly believed that the soul is totally good, simply because God created it. As written in Confessions, “For there is no means whatsoever by which corruption can injure our God, whether by an act of will, by necessity, or by chance. This is because he is God and what he wills is good and he is himself that same Good: whereas to be corrupted is not good” (Augustine 36). Contrary, Plato asserts that we are in control of our actions, those of which will determine how pure or impure our soul is. Both Augustine and Plato have contrasting ideas on the
Whether Augustine is using or challenging the ideas of Plato and the Manicheans, or whether George Lucas is using or transforming ideas from all three theories, there is a similar connection between all that is prominent and easily distinguished. Regardless, there is still no accurate definition of good and evil and how it affects the human soul. It’s a compex topic that is mainly based off of opinions and ideas, but still has a heavy influence on human nature. These writers and philosophers have been using and transforming each other’s ideas for centuries and will continue to do so for years to