Aquinas' First Way, Determinism and Free Will

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Qoeleth

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Let’s provisionally accept Aquina’s First Way. According to the second premise of this: "Omne autem quod movetur, ab alio movetur- “But all that moves, by another is moved.” In other words, things do not happen without a something else causing them to happen.

Now, if nothing happens without a something causing it to happen, it follows that everything that happens is caused by something else. Ergo, for any future event, the chain of causes which will result in it have already begun, since nothing can move (according to Aquinas) unless moved by another. Therefore, it would seem that the future is already absolutely determined.

Hence it follows that, while, as humans, we perceive ourselves as having free will, this is simply an illusion.

OR, does human will itself acts as a mini Unmoved Mover? Is this part of the imago Dei?

OR in asserting the freedom of the will (i.e. the possibility of the will moving, rather than simply being moved ab alia), is the soundness of the Prima Via being denied?
 
Qoeleth said:
So, human free will has in common with God that it is effectively can be an “unmoved mover”?
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We’re moved movers, self-determinism, and flat out reject libertarian free will.

“Free-will is the cause of its own movement, because by his free-will man moves himself to act. But it does not of necessity belong to liberty that what is free should be the first cause of itself, as neither for one thing to be cause of another need it be the first cause. God, therefore, is the first cause, Who moves causes both natural and voluntary. And just as by moving natural causes He does not prevent their acts being natural, so by moving voluntary causes He does not deprive their actions of being voluntary: but rather is He the cause of this very thing in them; for He operates in each thing according to its own nature.”
 
TS_Aquinas said:
We’re moved movers, self-determinism, and flat out reject libertarian free will.

“Free-will is the cause of its own movement, because by his free-will man moves himself to act. But it does not of necessity belong to liberty that what is free should be the first cause of itself, as neither for one thing to be cause of another need it be the first cause. God, therefore, is the first cause, Who moves causes both natural and voluntary. And just as by moving natural causes He does not prevent their acts being natural, so by moving voluntary causes He does not deprive their actions of being voluntary: but rather is He the cause of this very thing in them; for He operates in each thing according to its own nature.”
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Free-will is evidently not a ‘first cause’ as such- something else caused the existence of the free-will. But, if free-will, once it is bought into existence, is held to be ‘the cause of its own movement’, doesn’t this seem to contradict the premise that all that moves is moved by something else.?
 
Qoeleth said:
Free-will is evidently not a ‘first cause’ as such- something else caused the existence of the free-will. But, if free-will, once it is bought into existence, is held to be ‘the cause of its own movement’, doesn’t this seem to contradict the premise that all that moves is moved by something else.?
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It does not merely ‘seem’ to contradict this premise, it really does contradict the premise.
The only reasonbale thing a catholic can do if he wants to retain his notion of libertarian free will, is reject Thomistic cosmology altogether. Which is, I might add, a good thing to do anyway because it is based on a logical contradiction.
 
belorg said:
It does not merely ‘seem’ to contradict this premise, it really does contradict the premise.
The only reasonbale thing a catholic can do if he wants to retain his notion of libertarian free will, is reject Thomistic cosmology altogether. Which is, I might add, a good thing to do anyway because it is based on a logical contradiction.
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We reject libertarian free will, I just said that in post 4.

Ans no, there is no contradiction upon further investigation of that same paragarpgh I posted. I’ll repost for emphasis…

“Free-will is the cause of its own movement, because by his free-will man moves himself to act. But it does not of necessity belong to liberty that what is free should be the first cause of itself, as neither for one thing to be cause of another need it be the first cause. God, therefore, is the first cause, Who moves causes both natural and voluntary. And just as by moving natural causes He does not prevent their acts being natural, so by moving voluntary causes He does not deprive their actions of being voluntary: but rather is He the cause of this very thing in them; for He operates in each thing according to its own nature.”
 
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