Relationship between St Augustine and Plato

Discuss the relationship between St. Augustine and Plato Great philosophers over time have shared ideas about their lifetime. There were no more captivating philosophers than Plato and Augustine who fed off one another. Even though they were born at different times, their ideas impacted the life they lived in and future lives. St. Augustine was a student of the wise Plato, who fed off his ideas and created his own form of philosophy. Plato on the other hand orbited the idea of the theory of forms which, later St. Augustine incorporated into his beliefs. St. Augustine used the notion of god to resemble his ideas, as well as Plato’s and a mix of Christianity to incorporate his own knowledge. The philosophical views, the ideas of good and god, and the ideas of truth and memory reflect the relationship between the two noble Philosophers St. Augustine and Plato and can be very easily seen in his writings. St. Augustine and Plato shared many similar thoughts, one of them being their philosophical views. Plato’s idea of the theory of recollection came from his teacher Socrates. Plato’s theory of claims is knowledge brought by the soul from someone in the previous life. Plato’s great teacher Socrates contends this point by using his idea of the theory of forms. He argues that from birth the minds gain information from the world, such as two equal items. However, according to Socrates his idea of equal is not compared to objects. Therefore, to him perception can be seen as senses or what you learn from birth. Equal on the other hand can’t be something everyone learns from birth. Socrates takes these perceptions and says “we must have possessed knowledge of the Equal itself if we were about to refer our sense perceptions of equal objects to it, and realized that all of them were eager to be like it, but were inferior.” (Phaedo 113) The ideas of equal and theory of forms have to do with good versus god. St. Augustine believed in god, where as Plato believed in the

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