Spain's Shift: From Absolutism to Liberal Unrest & Augustine's Pursuit of Truth

Liberal Resistance & Return to Absolutism in Spain

Liberals, wary of the shift, traveled to swear allegiance to the new Constitution and policy framework. However, absolutists quickly demanded the restoration of absolutism, as seen in the Manifesto of the Persians. By Royal Decree on May 4, 1814, Ferdinand VII annulled the Constitution and laws of Cadiz, marking a return to the old regime. From 1815 onward, Ferdinand VII and his government faced the impossible task of rebuilding a war-torn nation. The country suffered immense human losses, and the royal treasury was bankrupt. Peasants, unable to pay rent, protested and demanded the reinstatement of old tributes. Liberal military uprisings, urban riots, and rural unrest demonstrated widespread discontent and the failure of absolute monarchy. The monarchy's sole response to political and social demands was repression.

The Philosophy of Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo's philosophy is a continuous quest for profound understanding of the self and the highest reality: "I want to know God and the soul."

Augustine sought necessary, immutable, and eternal truth, which cannot be found in transient, sensible objects that constantly change. Even the soul is contingent and changeable; only God is truth.

His search moves from the outer world of things to the inner world of the soul. While he discovered truths within, Augustine explicitly rejected the Platonic concepts of recollection and transmigration of the soul. Thus, the search culminates in an inward movement, an ascent of the soul toward God.

The primary forms of ideas are eternal and permanent reasons. These reasons, which are not learned but are eternal and immutable, reside in the divine intelligence. They encompass logical, metaphysical, mathematical, ethical, and aesthetic ideas.

Skeptical arguments are valid only for those who base truth on sensory knowledge. For Augustine, truth is intelligible and requires a purification of the mind and will, achieved by eliminating attachment to the world and the body. This concept is also present in Platonism.