On Augustine's Friendship Community

Through the discussion of Augustine's friendship community,this paper tries to respond to the remaking of the Ego and the Community through the new friendship model in the modern society with the gradual marginalization of fratemity.By examining the similarities and differences between Plato and Aristotle,the classical friendship and Augustine 's friendship,to show the continuation and breakage of the latter.Different from the classical philosophy based on people's self-consciousness and friendship as a political community link positive significance.The uniqueness of Augustine 's friendship is:Starting from the fundamental evil of human nature,in the relationship of "self-others" oriented by the dialogue "you",making the friendship out of the classical philosophical model can only be as a self-relationship of alienation and the fate of the out of love is only the extension of self-love nature,truly become a relationship between self and the other(God),become a consistent with its own self-love;It is because of this absolute other-"God" to break the classical philosophy of the human order of the provisions of the natural,The inner "self" of the people hidden by the classical city-state community is really excavated,fulfilling the rich and independent self.Accordingly,Augustine argues that if the friendship does not point to God and lose the love of God,it must be lost the shame in the man and the community.Aristotle's view that the friendship of the political community as a good link mechanism will fail,friendship not only can not become a classical city-state solidarity ties,but will become a division of factors,leading to the breeding of evil.Augustine 's dialectical understanding of friendship makes it impossible to make a complete covenant with the classical or modern discourse and become the seeds of modernity.Friendship is no longer the basis of natural law for the justness of political domination,but in turn it is a counterbalancing force against pride of pride.His friendship is also based on the "weakness of human nature" and become a theological significance social life bond completely different from the classical philosophy of friendship.On the basis of the formation of the political community,but also completely different from the basis of natural justice and domination over the rule of the relationship,But out of the conventional dimension of the secular politics,political and transcendent dimension of God combined to truly restore the political life as a fundamental task of human life.This completely different from the classical philosophy of political thought has become the Augustine political ideology an important part of modernity.