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Capitolo | Rational Will and Free Will: A Fundamental. Semantic Difference in Ancient Philosophy
Rational Will and Free Will: A Fundamental. Semantic Difference in Ancient Philosophy
Abstract
In this paper, I highlight a fundamental semantic difference within the concept of will: the difference between a rational will and a free will. It plays a major, but often neglected role in ancient philosophy. While Plato’s contribution to the conceptual history consists in the idea of a rational will (boulêsis, as calls it in the Gorgias), it was Augustine who should be seen as the philosopher who introduced the idea of a free will under the name of liberum arbitrium. I reject alternative proposals, e.g., that formulated by Michael Frede that we should see Epictetus as having a full idea of a free will.
Presentato: 10 Settembre 2024 | Accettato: 01 Ottobre 2024 | Pubblicato 13 Marzo 2025 | Lingua: en
Keywords Indeterminacy • Rational will • Decisionism • Free will • Spontaneity • Assent (sunkatathesis) • What is up to us (to eph’ hêmin) • Intrinsic goodness
Copyright © 2025 Christoph Horn. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-902-3/007
