On Free Choice of the Will

Any serious student of Western philosophy,theology or history of ideas must eventually confront this icon of Western thought and Church Father ultra non plus,St.Augustine of Hippo.The man is the West's first--premier--EXISTENTIAL psychologist.His response to "angst"(found in Intro to THE CONFESSIONS)is yet unsurpassed and probably unsurpassable:LORD WE WERE MADE FOR THEE...AND OUR HEARTS ARE FOREVER RESTLESS UNTIL THEY REST IN THEE.

His CITY of GOD vs.The PAGANS is prodigious philosophy of history surpassing both Hegel and Mercea Eliade(History as "slaughter bench";and history as "Terror")because Augustine..."heretic extraordinary" before conversion...understood SALVATION History is chart of Man's True Destiny(with Crucifixion and RESURRECTION of CHRIST as axis and entlechy).Ana Benjamin and L.H.Hackstaff's translation of On Free Choice of the Will(De Libro arbitrio Voluntatis)remains classic "interpretation" of this essential study on the NATURE of Fallen Man;Original Sin and degree of FREE WILL subtending the Human condition.

PLATONIC dialogue format of the treatise is readable but daunting. Augustine...never a modest man...does his best with pseudo-paradox of All Knowing/Loving God and radical EVIL. Augustine's concept of Original Sin bending/denting pristine Free Will is interesting if not totally convincing.(St.Thomas Aquinas will do better with foundational LOGOS interpreted through Aristotle rather than gnostic Plato). Still it is game and important effort that meets "Modern" questions of NURTURE vs. NATURE in the drama of Good vs.Evil better than slews of psychologists from Freud to May;Nietzschean nihilists;or Hideggerian PM anti-Christians.Augustine's sometimes tortured logic(which often devolves simply into God is THE GOOD and Man chose to screw-up in defiance may not satisfy the pseudo's who want man to be "free" but blame God for Evil).In the end, however,it's not Evil that is ultimate "outcome" of Free Will. It's(proven)CAPACITY FOR SACRIFICE and LOVE that's the Answer to homies who want to reduce Mankind to chemical reactions and tropisms.Again:FREE CHOICE is tough read. "The hip" will find St. Augustine's not infrequent forays into Manichaeian heresy-"occult" theology amusing(10 years as initate in this pre-New Age prototype would screw-up even genius like St.A) Nevertheless,St.Augustine of Hippo(read PETER BROWN'S peerless biography)remains one of The MEN in history of defining Western thought(his ideas comprised Logos of entire Medieval epoch).ON FREE CHOICE OF THE WILL is sine qua non Augustinian reading.(4 & 1/2 stars).

If you were looking for a significant and representative but introductory level medieval Christian philosophy text, you would be hard pressed to find one better than this. When I teach intro to philosophy, I often choose representative texts from the ancient, medieval, early Modern, and roughly contemporary periods. I start with Plato, either the Apology or the Meno or both. Then we read this book. Then Descartes' Meditations. Finally, we read something from Nietzsche, de Beauvoir, or from an early American philosopher (e.g. Thoreau).

This book is an excellent part of the sequence because it introduces free will, and introduces it in a way that is very relevant to Descartes' discussion of will in connection with error. Plato (and the ancients generally) didn't really have a notion of the will: our choices are dictated by our level of understanding. Augustine understood that the Christian notion of sin entails something more radical than mere ignorance -- I must, he thought, be in some real way capable of unmotivated choice if I am to be blamed for my actions.

There are other great bits in this dialogue -- one that it IS a dialogue and so forms a nice segway from Plato's dialogues. Another is its articulation of a proof of existence that prefigures Descartes' cogito and a proof of God that is remarkably similar (though very different in intent) to Descartes' first proof in the meditations.

St. Augustine's dialogue on free will is not worded for the layman. The rhetoric becomes so involved that one has to wonder if St. Augustine knew what he was writing at times. That being said, I will present as brief of a synopsis as possible.

God, being omnipotent and omnibenevolent, can not create anything bad. Everything he creates is good. God allows humans to have free will, which was a just and appropriate decision. We grow to a more perfect being by performing good deeds. It is through life's turbulence that we advance toward knowledge and peace, through which a blessed life is achieved. Without free will, no righteous act could be performed. Thus, without free will, the whole reason for our existence is null and void. Of course, with free will comes consequeces. People can develop lust and greed in their hearts, causing them to sin. Sin is the side effect of free will, which God realizes and accepts.

I personally enjoyed reading confessions much more than "On Free Choice of the Will".

Excellent work on the "problem of evil" in religion. For serious intellectual contemplaters only. Whether you ultimately agree or disagree with Augustine's premise, you will certainly appreciate the depth in which he addresses an issue that the world's most prolific religions readily ignore. If God is all good and God is the creator, why is there bad?

This is one of Augustine's early writings, from soon after his conversion. It records a conversation between himself and Evodius regarding free will. ... Augustine had very little access to Plato, and at this point in his life, probably nothing not quoted by another source. The dialogue is in fact based upon a real conversation, and not just a literary creation (a result of the philosophical community that Augustine lived in for some time after his conversion). However, Augustine edited it and added material (most of Bk. III) before publishing it.

The main things I thought a reader ought to note when reading this short work are (1) This is still the beginning of work on the will - it was not a major issue in philosophy until Augustine, although bits and pieces may be found, e.g. in Cicero; (2) Augustine's style is quite different from what most people are used to, especially since this is a record of an actual conversation; (3) the problem of evil for Augustine is of a different nature then that promulgated in modern times; (4) the only two people who had a paradigmatically free will were Adam and Eve - everyone else has a less than free will and requires God's grace to will effectively, even when they wish to do good.

It is an interesting work but still represents the early thought of Augustine. Those without a Neoplatonic background will find some of its arguments strange. There is no good introduction to Augustine - in my experience, you have to read a great deal of him in order to understand the typical way he thinks and the concepts he relies upon implicitly. Some Plotinus is probably useful.