On Free Choice of the Will

On time, and no problems with the book. It was in just the condition described by the seller.

St. Augustine wrote this book to answer the challenge of the Manachaeans. The Manachaeans held that evil could not be accounted for except as an independent principle with the result that man was not truly free or responsible for his actions since evil was a positively existing part of his nature. Such determinism easily leads to fatalism, both of which have nothing to do with the Gospel of Christ. St. Augustine presents his argument in the form of a conversation with a friend named Evodius. His simple, but startling conclusion is that evil is "nothing." It is what is not, but should be. Evil does not exist as an independent entity, but is brought about through the defective use of free will by a deliberative being. The source of this defect is the pride of Satan who chose to fixate upon his own being rather than see his being in its proper relation to God. Satan then influences the Man and Woman to seek in themselves what they knew to be in God. Man's freedom is not destroyed through sin, but weakened through the influence of concupiscence which distracts the mind and distorts the object of consideration so that clear deliberation is impossible without God's grace. Even in the state of sin, however, man continues to possess free will since his nature is oriented to the good and there are many goods for a rational being to choose from. Without grace, though, man can never choose the eternal Good through Whom alone he can be justified. Therefore, man always remains responsible for his actions since he is free, yet without grace he is doomed to damnation due to the deprivation of the eternal Good that was lost to him through Adam's sin. Though no man is personally culpable for original sin and therefore subject to positive damnation for this sin, every man of reason has in fact sinned personally and in this manner becomes culpable and consequently convicted. This book shows clearly that from early in his career St. Augustine upheld both the freedom of the will and the necessity of God's grace to attain justification. He maintained this position to the end as shown by his propensity in later life to continue to refer individuals to this early work.

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.

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?