Honesty And Knowledge The Philosophy Of Saint Augustine,...

Honesty and Knowledge: The Solutions to an Ethical Dilemma through the Philosophy of Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Immanuel Kant â€Å"Simon,† Larry says, â€Å"we are good friends; I consider it to be my duty to tell you that I have found a letter in your late father’s poetry book, indicating that he has had an affair.† Some of us will try to avoid coming face-to-face with our friend about such a gut-wrenching reality by keeping this distressing information a secret. Some of us will tell the truth for the moral sake of doing so, or because it can serve a purpose and actually prove to be mutually beneficial. Revealing sensitive or private information to someone is risky, but the philosophers Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Immanuel Kant can agree that Larry would be doing a moral thing by informing Simon of his father’s infidelity. Essentially, for Saint Augustine, God is truth, and we should always work towards this truth. It is wisdom that provides the knowledge of truth, so the quest for truth is a quest for wisdom. Simon may be absolutely enraged and mortified after L arry decides to disclose the truth, but more importantly, he can use his awareness and allow it to guide him in finding the â€Å"essence of all truth:† (St. Augustine 61) God. According to St. Augustine, in the City of Man (the terrestrial world), our desires tend to become the center of our existence. This self-centeredness, absent with the grace of God, blinds us to the truth and weakens our