Read extremely carefully the "pear-tree incident" discussed in Book Two of St. Augustine's Confessions. (This covers all of Book Two.)

St. Thomas, following Aristotle, asserts that even when we act badly or immorally, we do not perform the action in question simply because it is bad or wrong or evil, and for no other reason. Rather, we act for the sake of some good (e.g., pleasure, wealth, fame, honor, health, friendship, the approval of our peers, etc.) that through our own fault we mistakenly believe to be conducive to our ultimate happiness. Yet St. Augustine suggests at the beginning of Book Two that he stole the pears out of sheer perversity of will, i.e., that he performed this action precisely because it was bad or sinful and not in order to attain any good at all.  He realizes that this sounds impossible, and so he spends the rest of Book Two reflecting on the causes of sin in general and on what he might have had in mind in stealing the pears.

In your paper you are to answer the following three questions:

(a) What is Augustine's argument in favor of the claim that he stole the pears precisely because it was sinful to do so and not because of any good he was striving to attain?

(b) In his search for some hidden good that he might have been striving for in stealing the pears, Augustine seems to identify some plausible candidates. Take the one (or ones) you consider most plausible and discuss the reasons for and against taking that good to be one that Augustine was striving for in stealing the pears.

(c) What do you think? Is it indeed possible to sin for no reason other than simply to sin? Whichever answer you give, what are your reasons? Be sure to respond to possible objections against your position.