ENGLISH

A Free Will: Origins of the Notion in Ancient Thought

By Michael Frede

Book information

Publisher
University of California Press
Year
2011
ISBN
0520268482, 9780520268487
LCC
B187.F7 F74 2011
Open Library ID
OL24553206M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
1 MB (1070163 bytes)
Series
Sather Classical Lectures
Pages
223\223
Topic
History
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

Where does the notion of free will come from? How and when did it develop, and what did that development involve? In Michael Frede's radically new account of the history of this idea, the notion of a free will emerged from powerful assumptions about the relation between divine providence, correctness of individual choice, and self-enslavement due to incorrect choice. Anchoring his discussion in Stoicism, Frede begins with Aristotle--who, he argues, had no notion of a free will--and ends with Augustine. Frede shows that Augustine, far from originating the idea (as is often claimed), derived most of his thinking about it from the Stoicism developed by Epictetus.

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