Political Philosophy Part I.
Extracts from
Links: Imagining
Other Index Page
Notes
on St Augustine and Thomas Aquinas
Political
Philosophy Contents Page
IV, 4:
Without justice what are
kingdoms but great bands of robbers? And what is a band of robbers but such a kingdom
in miniature? It is a band of men under the rule of a leader, bound together by
a pact of friendship, and their booty is divided among them by an agreed rule.
Such a blot on society, if it grows, assumes for itself the proud name of
kingdom.
XV, 1:
That race (i.e. the human
race) we have divided into two classes, one that lives according to man and the
other that lives according to God. In symbolic fashion we call these two cities, that is, two communities of men,
of which one is predestined to reign eternally with God, the other to suffer
eternal punishment with the devil.
The Apostle says “That is not
first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which
is spiritual.” That implies that each man, since he is born of tainted stock,
must first like Adam be wicked and carnal; afterwards, if he have the advantage
of being born again into Christ, he will be good and spiritual.
XV, 4:
The earthly city, which
cannot be eternal… enjoys its good here upon earth, and such pleasure is taken
in its fellowship as is possible in that state of things. Since it is not such
pleasure as prevents disagreements among its members, the city is often divided
against itself by lawsuits, wars, and revolts, and by pursuit of lethal or at
least shortlived victories.
It cannot be rightly said
that the objects the city desires are not good. It is after all the superior
city in the scale of human values. It wants earthly peace if only for mundane
reasons. It tries to attain it by war.
When those prove the
conquerors who fought with the greater justification, who will not congratulate
them on having won the victory and secured a favourable peace? These are good
things, and without doubt the gifts of God. But if the better things, which
belong to the heavenly city… are lost to sight, and lower goods sought as if
they were the only ones or more desirable than those of better credit, it is
obvious that misery must follow and increase.
XIX, 4:
At the moment we cannot see
our good, so we have to look for it by faith. Nor can we live rightly out of
our own resources.
They… who think that good and
evil ends are to be found in this present life, placing the supreme good either
in body or in soul or in both together… have made a tremendous mistake in so
far as they seek happiness here and in themselves.
It is a vice when, as the
Apostle says, “the flesh lusts against the spirit”. But… it is a virtue when,
as he says, “the spirit lusts against the flesh”. What is it we desire as the chief
end of good, What is it we desire as the chief end of good, but that the flesh
should not lust against the spirit, and that there should be no vice left in us
for the spirit to lust against?
XIX, 6:
… the variety of languages
divides man from man… A man would rather be with his dog than with a foreigner
(with whom he could not communicate). The imperial city does its utmost to
impose not only its yoke, but its language, by peaceful and social means, upon
the people it has subdued. It hopes thus to secure at least an abundance of
interpreters!
That is true, but at how
great a cost in wars, carnage, effusion of blood! … But a wise man, they say,
will only wage just wars. Well, if he remembered he was a man, he would grieve
all the more at the necessity of waging just wars. If they were not just he
would not have to wage them, and then for the just man there would be no more
war…
XIX, 13:
The peace of the body is the
orderly proportion of its members. The peace of the animal soul is the orderly
repose of its appetites. The peace of the reasonable soul is the orderly
concord of thought and action. The peace of body and soul together is the
orderly life and security of the living person. The peace of man and God is the
orderly obedience in faith to the eternal law. The peace of men is orderly
harmony. The peace of the home is the orderly harmony of command and obedience
on the part of those who live together. The peace of the city is the orderly
harmony of command and obedience on the part of the citizens. The peace of the
heavenly city is orderly and harmonious fellowship in the enjoyment of God and
of each other in God. The peace of the universe is the serenity of order.
XIX, 14:
The whole use of temporal things
is thus related to the enjoyment of an earthly peace in the earthly city. In
the heavenly city it is related to the enjoyment of eternal peace. If then we
were just irrational animals we should desire nothing more than the harmonious
functioning of the members of the body and the satisfaction of the appetites.
XIX, 17:
The earthly city, seeks and
earthly peace, and therein contrives a civic harmony of command and obedience…
The heavenly city, on the other hand, [i.e. that part of it which is on earth]…
also uses that peace because it must, until the mortality that makes it
necessary shall itself pass away… It has no hesitation in conforming to the
laws of the earthly city.
The heavenly city, while it
is a pilgrim on earth, gathers citizens out of every nation… It has no
particular concerns about differences of customs, laws, institutions by which
earthly peace is sought or maintained. Although they differ in different
nations they all tend to one and the same end in earthly peace. Therefore it
does not rescind them or break them: rather it preserves and follows them, so
long as they do not hinder that religion, which teaches that only the one true
God is to be worshipped.
XIX, 21:
…
What he means by consent of
law he explains by showing that without justice you cannot have a
common-wealth. Where there is no justice there is no law. For we may not
imagine men’s unjust decrees to be laws: all men defining law to arise out of
the fountain of justice.
It is good for men to be
under authority… They behave better when they are made to obey… Why does God
exercise authority over man, the mind over the body, the reason over lust and
other vicious tendencies of the mind? This example shows that it is good for
some to be in subordinate positions… The mind that truly serves God can
exercise authority over the body, and within the mind itself the reason that is
duly subordinate to the Lord God can exercise authority over lust and other
vices.
But if a man does not serve
God, what justice can we expect to find in him?
… If in such an individual there is no justice, I am quite certain there
cannot be any in a community that consists of such individuals.