卡西勒，《人論》／Ernst Cassirer, An essay on man

According to Augustine all philosophy prior to the appearance of Christ was liable to one fundamental error, and was infected with one and the same heresy. The power of reason was extolled as the highest power of man. But what man could never know until he was enlightened with a special divine revelation is that reason itself is one of the most questionable and ambiguous things in the world. Reason cannot show us the way to clarity, to truth and wisdom. For it is itself obscure in its meaning, and its origin is wrapped in mystery — in a mystery soluble only by Christian revelation. Reason for Augustine does not have a simple and unique, but rather a double and divided nature. Man was created in the image of God; and in his original state, in which he went out from the hands of God, he was equal to his archetype. But all this has been lost through the fall of Adam. From that time on all the original power of reason has been obscured. And reason alone, when left to itself and its own faculties, never can find the way back. It cannot reconstruct itself; it cannot, by its own efforts, return to its former pure essence. If such a reformation is ever possible, it is only by supernatural aid, by the power of divine grace. Such is the new anthropology, as it is understood by Augustine, and maintained in all the great systems of medieval thought. Even Thomas Aquinas, the disciple of Aristotle, who goes back to the sources of Greek philosophy, does not venture to deviate from this fundamental dogma. He concedes to human reason a much higher power than Augustine did; but he is convinced that reason cannot make the right use of these powers unless it is guided and illuminated by the grace of God. Here we have come to a complete reversal of all the values upheld by Greek philosophy. What once seemed to be the highest privilege of man proves to be his peril and his temptation what appeared as his pride becomes his deepest humiliation. The Stoic precept that man has to obey and revere his inner principle, the “demon” within himself, is now regarded as dangerous idolatry.

Ernst Cassirer, An essay on man: an introduction to a philosophy of human culture. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, p14

根據奧古斯丁的看法，在耶穌基督降生以前的所有哲學，都有一個根本錯誤的傾向，並且受同一種異端的影響。這就是：理性的力量被捧為人的最高力量。但是，當人被一種特殊神明的啟示開導之後就會發現：理性本身是世界上最成問題、最含混不清的東西之一。理性不可能向我們指示通向澄明、真理和智慧的道路。因為它本身的意義就是含糊不清的，而關於它的來源則籠罩著一片神秘—這種神秘性只有靠基督教的啟示才能解決。對奧古斯丁來說，理性的本性並不是單純的和唯一的，而毋寧是雙重的和分裂的。人是根據上帝的形象而被創造的，而且他出自上帝之手時的原始狀態是與他的原型不相上下的。但是所有這一切都由於亞當的墮落而喪失了。從那時起，理性的一切原初力量都被遮蔽了。而且理性如果只是訴諸於自身和自己的能力，就絕不可能找到回返之路。它不可能重建自身，不可能靠它自己的努力去恢復它原先的純粹本質。如果這樣一種改過自新是可能的話，那麼就只能靠超自然力量的幫助，靠神恩賜的力量。這就是奧古斯丁所理解的並在中世紀思想的一切偉大體系中得到維護的新的人類學。即使是多瑪斯 · 阿奎那（Thomas Aquinas）──他返回到了希臘哲學的源泉，並且是亞里斯多德的信徒──也不敢背離這個根本的教義。阿奎那比之於奧古斯丁給予了人的理性以更高的力量，但是他也深信，如果得不到上帝賜與的指引和啟發，理性就不可能正確地使用這些力量。在這裡，希臘哲學所維護的一切價值都完全被推翻了。那曾經似乎是人的最高特權的東西被說成是對人的嚴重威脅和使他誤入歧途的誘惑物；那曾作為人的驕做的東西成了人的最深的恥辱。斯多葛派的格言──人應當聽從和尊重他的內在原則，聽從和尊重他自己內部的「守護神」──現在被看成是危險的偶像崇拜。

卡西勒著，甘陽譯，《人論》，台北：桂林，2005，頁15-16

※斜體字為Aplypius改譯。