Los presupuestos de una doctrina moral en el pensamiento de san Agustín

Abstract

The article deals with the notion of human nature based on what Saint Augustine exposes in De immortalitate animae, following Varron’s footsteps on the unity of the soul and body, and the prima naturae, as they appear in his work De Philosophia. It is also pointed out that St. Augustine separates himself from the Varronian thought in regard to the highest good of the human being, since for him it is placed in the soul, as it appears in De moribus ecclesiae catholicae. On the other hand, the Augustinian basic ethical principle regarding goods is developed, presenting the distinction between the things that have to be loved propter se and those that have to be loved propter aliud, to subsequently make a presentation of the concept of uti and frui, as both are developed in De Doctrina Christiana and in the De Ciuitate Dei. It also stresses the innovative value of amor sui, where Saint Augustine modifies the stoic concept of oikéiosis, following the idea of the two loves as pondus, both caritatis and cupiditatis. As a deepening of the same concept of oikéiosis, the psychological process of the free act is analyzed, comparing the Augustinian process with the process described by Aristotle in his Ethica Nicomachea.