Crítica à autonomia do poder político em Agostinho

Abstract

In the City of God, Augustine shows an ambivalent conception of politics, because the politics acquires positivity or negativity according to the identity or contradiction of a civitas or res publica with itself. More precisely, the celestial city, which has two modes of existence, one in the history, other in the eternity, progressively conquers identity as in history succeeds a coherent process towards its genuine mode of existence, in eternity. On the other hand, the earthly city exists in the history in contradiction and con#ict in becoming slave of its own libidinousness of dominance so that its history is one of a progressive damnation and lost of being. )erefore a city holds political statute in despite of its moral orientation or disorientation. Moreover, the Augustinian foundation of politics is neither the nature nor the reason. )us, notably against Cicero, Augustine enterprises a denaturalization of politics and founds it in a certain concept of will.