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On Free Choice of the Will

augustine of hippo thomas williams

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Translated with an uncanny sense for the overall point of Augustine's doctrine. In short, a very good translation. The Introduction is admirably clear.--Paul Vincent Spade, Indiana University

129 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,0395

This edition

Format
129 pages, Paperback
Published
October 1, 1993 by Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
ISBN
9780872201880
ASIN
0872201880
Language
English

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About the author

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augustine of hippo

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Early church father and philosopher Saint Augustine served from 396 as the bishop of Hippo in present-day Algeria and through such writings as the autobiographical Confessions in 397 and the voluminous City of God from 413 to 426 profoundly influenced Christianity, argued against Manichaeism and Donatism, and helped to establish the doctrine of original sin.

An Augustinian follows the principles and doctrines of Saint Augustine.

People also know Aurelius Augustinus in English of Regius (Annaba). From the Africa province of the Roman Empire, people generally consider this Latin theologian of the greatest thinkers of all times. He very developed the west. According to Jerome, a contemporary, Augustine renewed "the ancient Faith."

The Neo-Platonism of Plotinus afterward heavily weighed his years. After conversion and his baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to theology and accommodated a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed in the indispensable grace to human freedom and framed the concept of just war. When the Western Roman Empire started to disintegrate from the material earth, Augustine developed the concept of the distinct Catholic spirituality in a book of the same name. He thought the medieval worldview. Augustine closely identified with the community that worshiped the Trinity. The Catholics and the Anglican communion revere this preeminent doctor. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider his due teaching on salvation and divine grace of the theology of the Reformation. The Eastern Orthodox also consider him. He carries the additional title of blessed. The Orthodox call him "Blessed Augustine" or "Saint Augustine the Blessed."

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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 95 votes)
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Soyiasaki
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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After wading through pages and pages of weighty arguments about the problem of evil, the sovereignty of God, and human responsibility, I think these were my favorite quotes:

Augustine: I believe you also know that many human beings are foolish.
Evodius: That's obvious enough.


and,


Augustine: So tell me this: Do we have a will?
Evodius: I don't know.
Augustine: Do you want to know?
Evodius: I don't know that either.
Augustine: Then don't ask me any more questions.


:)
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direday34
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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A great book by St. Augustine, yet I’m still a little weary of many arguments he used in this book. I believe that in other works, such as his magnum opus “De Civitate Dei”, he shifts positions on certain issues. That, or mainly because he didn’t expound enough on previous topics in this work. Not sure. Progress is a good thing. Read more Augustine. “..there was no discussion in these books of the grace of God, by which he so predestines his chosen people that he himself prepares the wills of those who are already using their free choice” (125).
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LifesProtagonist
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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“Please tell me: isn’t God the cause of evil?”

Im not sure what the term is for this phenomenon but we can just call it ignorance for lack of a better word but this is something that I stopped thinking a while ago but it’s always nice to be reminded of it;“ancient” or non-modern humans aren’t dumb, naïve, or fools.

This book makes that clear. It’s nearly 2000 years old yet the clarity of the logic, reason, issues at hand, the subtleties and manner of the problems that are dealt with reads like it could be written today and still be better than plenty of other (particularly philosophical) works.

Some of the core issues of the book are whether God created evil, what is evil, what is evildoing, what is the source of sin, how and why thinking about adultery (for example) is wrong to think about committing not just wrong only when the act is committed, how free will is necessary for morality, what the nature of humans is (rational animals), how can free will and foreknowledge be compatible, what is valuable and why, why humans have such an esteemed value above all else, existence as goodness, proof of existence (similar and before Decartes)

One need not be Christian to appreciate and learn from this book. (I’m agnostic)

Not to be a boomer but this book really squanders and deals with many of the (generalization) YouTube cringe atheist-esque type of people who attack on Christianity which are very basic. But on the flip side, so many ignorant Christians would do good to understand their religion from the lens of reason and philosophy too and not be blindly faithful.


The book has a clear influence on the way the world is today and that alone is reason to read it but it is very illuminating.

One star was nicked off because the last chunk of the 3rd book started to go too much into faith-based explanation as opposed to the more philosophical/reasoned based methods of the first 2 books.

Within the work, a version of the argument for free will that I accept is presented. A simply version goes like this: 1. it is the case that there are true moral claims. 2. Morality necessarily requires (a certain type of) free will. 3. Free will exists.
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wizard_metal
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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If you want a broad introduction to Augustine's philosophy, this book is a good place to start.

This book is an extended dialogue between Augustine and Evodius about many areas of Augustine's philosophy and theology. It begins with Evodius' controversial question "Isn't God the cause of evil," and after about 100 pages, Augustine makes his point that the free choice of the will is the cause of evil. However, through that 100 pages he discusses much more than questions about free will and the problem of evil. He also addresses in many words the problem of divine foreknowledge and free will, the doctrine of Original Sin, anthropology (especially our fallen moral state), ontology (he categorizes kinds of beings and meditates on the "souls" of animals and of humans), epistemology, and the philosophy of mathematics (mainly regarding numbers).

Our contemporary philosopher Thomas Williams, the translator, also includes a helpful introduction that describes different kinds of freedom ("free will") and identifies Augustine as a Libertarian with regard to free will. (Others have identified Augustine as a Compatibilist, a non-Libertarian; I have to research this further.) Finally, at the end of the book, Williams provides a selection from Augustine's Retractationes (Reconsiderations, as Williams appropriately translates it) in which Augustine comments on On Free Choice of the Will and picks out some of his own main points.

The difficulty of the book is that Augustine does not always stay on topic. I have heard that many of the Church Fathers have this writing style, which Dr. David Calhoun of Covenant Seminary describes as "long-winded" (hence, the 100 pages or so to answer Evodius' question). We tend to be much more direct and concise, sticking closely to a point. Thus, books like this require careful reading and re-reading. And that I will do.
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bluppers
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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I will say it is hard to read for a causal reader and takes a lot of time to process through. However, Augustine proves himself to be one of the brightest and most influential church fathers in all his writings and this in no exception.

Written in the style of Platonic dialogs, Augustine aims to set out the question of the relationship between the human will, God's foreknowledge, and sinfulness. While I think he left some subject out I wished he'd touch upon, he even acknowledges the limitations of the book and human understanding. Over all an exceptional read.
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WizzFizz
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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Goodread I would say everyone should read it I'll probably change my rating after I read it again I'll process my notes
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sakura_osmanthus
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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Although Augustine was a Neoplatonist, his arguments are still cohesive and hold up to modern philosophical inquiry quite well.
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Upper-Management
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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Mi primer libro de filosofía, me lo dieron en la universidad para el segundo semestre, pero como soy una ansiedad lo ley bastantes meses antes. Fue refrescante para ser mi primer libro. Me gustó muchísimo, quedo totalmente anotado.

"Si no creéis, no entenderéis"
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