Augustine : An Agent Acts With Free Will Essay

Augustine is still begging the question. He states that it is better to have something which be used for just and unjust acts the not possess it at all. From this statement, however, one can conclude that free will is not a good thing in itself because it can lead to wrong or unjust acts. Saint Augustine was a Christian, and a brief and simple counterexample from his religious perspective could prove this proposition to be false.

The play Antigone by Sophocles demonstrates throughout its story elements of Saint Augustine’s choice of the free will by involving choices of what she believes is morally right and not the law that is dictated by others. Antigone goes through her journey by making choices that are questionable but substantially true against the government by burying her brother because it is a cause that is greater than her and is what needs to be done.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is the story of a man who was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. The story continues in the tradition of classic Greek plays, which were based upon the Greeks’ beliefs at the time. The ancient Greeks believed that their gods decided what would ultimately happen to each and every person. Since those gods destined Oedipus to kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus’ life was definitely fated. However, the gods only decided where Oedipus’ life would eventually lead; they never planned the route he would take to get there. All the decisions that Oedipus made in order to fulfill his destiny, and the decisions he made after the fact, were of his own free will,

Augustine’s work is extremely logical and provides much evidence proving that free will is the cause of evil. He explains very clearly that evil is a result of human desire and their free will to do what they want. The most major flaw in his argument is that there is an omnipotent being that controls everything, yet doesn’t control everything, which would unravel his entire argument, resulting in evil being created by said being. Thus, the message that God exists would actually be detrimental to the argument that free will is the cause of evil. However, Augustine writes that “I hold by faith, not by something I see for myself” (Cahn 362), which means that God is not proven, so logically he doesn’t exist. Therefore, if

In Book two of Confession a 16 year old Augustine stole a few pears. This demonstration of robbery frequented Augustine for quite a long time. As he reevaluates his life to compose admissions he finds key reasons on why he had stolen the pears and done other corrupt acts even after he discovered Christianity and turned into a supporter of God's oath. The principal reason he gave was that he didn't have whatever other choice yet to sin. Augustine trusted he was not given a privilege, but rather a wrong and a lesser wrong and he picked the lesser wrong in light of the fact that he didn't know which wrong was correct and it was difficult to pick nothing. Augustine trusts he would have just made the best choice yet he didn't realize what that was and this left him with no alternative yet to pick

This I believe to be true because even if one is a moral person and has never stolen before, they have at least thought of what they would do with the item that they are looking at. An example given to me about this was in my psychology class where the professor gave an example of someone setting a briefcase full of money on a table while he leaves the room in front of hundreds of people and that everyone would at least contemplate what they would do with the money if they were to take it. This example I believe connects with the idea that people do bad or evil things even though they know it is the wrong thing to do. This can be connected to free will because one is given the free will to be able to think about and to commit evil acts that they know are wrong. This part of Book 2 would imply that we do have free will which helps Augustine’s argument that we are capable of free will, and is what causes the suffering in the world. This part of Book 2 can also be helpful because Augustine thought that evil does exist, and evil is just the absence of good. This is one of Augustine’s reasons for why you need God because God is the highest good. The only real contradiction to this argument that I can think of is that if we have the freedom of the will then how would one explain predestination? Freedom of the will and predestination need to be exclusive of each other because

Augustine: Why yes I do, for it is a will by which we seek to live a good and upright life and to attain unto perfect wisdom.

He believes that everyone has the option to make a decision about something. He says that free will is the ability in human beings to act otherwise and there is a connection between being able to act otherwise and the notion that some acts are never ok to do. Moral absolutes can also be found in Christian tradition with St. Augustine. St. Augustine discussed the topic of lying and lying, as most people know, is considered to be intrinsically evil. However, he believes that there are some instances in which lying is necessary because, sometimes, it brings about good

The theological issue that most perplexed Augustine in his youth was that his mother Monica was Christian. He had turned his back on Christianity in his days as a youth and always tried to hide his views about Christianity. His mother never give up and always prayed that one day he would return Christian. I believed his Mother prayers had a lot to with him converting to

What was Ambrose’s view on free will and grace? Prior to the Augustine and Pelagian war on free will versus grace, there was a Milan bishop with not quite clear beliefs, but a definite point of view. Many believe Saint Augustine of Hippo was highly influenced by Saint Ambrose of Milan and would therefore assume an exact belief correlation, though it does not seem quite true. Augustine would argue that humans are flawed and dependent. Within his book On Grace and Free Will, Augustine states, “So now let us see what are the divine testimonies concerning the grace of God, without which we are not able to do any good thing.” (On Grace and Free Will 1.7) Opposing Augustine is Pelagian who would argue that humans are radically free and can achieve perfection through that of “good works.” In the same book by Augustine it is stated, “Pelagian argued that God’s grace is given according to our merits.” (On Grace and Free Will 1.10) Ambrose never wrote regarding free will and grace but one can closely analyze his writings in attempt to determine a belief.

Rather we are given the idea that one lives a fulfilled life by being understanding of others, and wanting to care about people. This kind of fulfilling life is living with a freedom, to choose to be human and accept the responsibilities life throws at us. However, you have Augustine on the other hand that mentions that free will allows us to choose to do many things from good and evil; yes, Augustine agrees with the belief that we often chose to do a majority of things for our own interest, but that is the unconscious human, where on the other hand, you have a person that wants to live a full life and chooses to do good not for one’s self but for the betterment of the overall population. However, he feels that we are capable of choosing more then just what we decide to worship; we are capable of deciding what is wrong and what is good. We established laws because we chose to do so. We choose to do things whether they be good or bad to obtain some type of benefit, whether it be stealing something to obtain that item or getting a job to make money to obtain the item. We choose to do many things, and we are capable of choosing whether or not we want to live a fulfilled life, we can either pretend to

I can relate to Augustine because at times I have felt pressured to do things. Growing up people influence the way you behave. I can recall a time I skipped school with my friends. I knew it was wrong out I did it because my friends did it. We did if for the trill of skipping and to say we did it. We all do things we regret. The best thing for us to do is learn from the mistakes. It is also very important to stick up for what you believe it. If your friends are doing something you do not believe is right speak up. You do not have to do anything you do not feel comfortable in doing.

In the beginning, God created the world. He created the earth, air, stars, trees and mortal animals, heaven above, the angels, every spiritual being. God looked at these things and said that they were good. However, if all that God created was good, from where does un-good come? How did evil creep into the universal picture? In Book VII of his Confessions, St. Augustine reflects on the existence of evil and the theological problem it poses. For evil to exist, the Creator God must have granted it existence. This fundamentally contradicts the Christian confession that God is Good. Logically, this leads one to conclude evil does not exist in a created sense. Augustine arrives at the conclusion that evil itself is not a formal thing, but the

Saint Augustine (354-430 AD), also known as Augustine of Hippo created an image of himself through his writings and teachings. He was born in Tagaste, a town in North Africa, on November 13, 354 AD. He was born into a middle class family. Patricius, his father, was a pagan, but later converted to Christianity because of his wife, Monica, was a devout Christian. Augustine’s mother, who was devoted to the Roman Catholic church, constantly tried for her son's conversion.

     According to Augustine, “Human beings are endowed with a power that he calls the will.” He emphasizes the will to being the center of freedom. Unlike other philosophers, who are determinists, Augustine, who has a libertarian view, sees our will as free choice. So for whatever we may choose to do, we become solely responsible for our actions which are caused by external factors instead of internal ones.