A felicidade pelo conhecimento em Agostinho

Abstract

The main purpose of this work is to show the plausibility of the hypothesis according to which, in Augustine´s Contra Academicos, the interdependence between Truth and happiness is defended. Notwithstanding, since this interdependence is not categorically shown in Augustine´s Contra Academicos, but only in another work of his, called De Beata Vita, it was necessary, through the collection of historical data linked to Augustine and his time, to establish a connection between these two dialogues, in order to show the plausibility of the idea according to which the interdependence between Truth and happiness, exposed in Augustine´s De Beata Vita, is defended in Augustine´s Contra Academicos. In order to achieve this objective, the work was disposed in the following manner: collection of historical and psychological data, exposed in the Introduction; study of Augustine´s Contra Academicos, in three chapters (these chapters form the first book of this dissertation); study of Augustine´s De Beata Vita and Conclusion, both of them also exposed in three chapters (these chapters form the second book of this dissertation). In the Conclusion (inserted in the third chapter of Book II), we have finished the study of Augustine´s De Beata Vita and the justification of the hypothesis of our dissertation. In the Conclusion, the information collected in the Introduction is employed in order to show the plausibility of our hypothesis