Catholic definition of free will

[DanAl]

I am absolutely certain that neither Aquinas nor Scotus or Anselm would know what the heck you are talking about.

Yes linusthe2nd, somebody would have to explain to them what libertarian freedom and compatibilism is, since these words are modern terms.

But it doesn’t change the fact that Anselm’s two affections of the will and Scotus’s synchronic contingency essentially entail the ability to do otherwise or what moderns call liberterian freedom.

Aquinas diachronic contingency is at* its core * compatibilist. Compatibilism entails, *in its basic details, * freedom in one direction.

It is an injustice to these great thinkers, loyal Catholics, two of which are Saints, and one ( Scotus ) whose cause is in process, as belonging to a particular school of thought which came into existence hundreds of years after their death. They may or may not agree to certain aspects of these schools, I’m sure they would not accept either school in toto.

Aquinas and Scotus were ecclectic in their thinking, taking the truth wherever they could find it.
That would indicate that they cannot justly be pigeonholed.

Linus2nd

Please, stop the melodrama. No one is trying to pigeonhole anyone or commiting an “injustice”. I am merely describing some core beliefs shared by these great thinkers and moderns schools.

Second, There’s no such thing as a libertarian school or a compatibilist school (isn’t that pigeoholing?). libertarianism and compatibilism comes in many forms. They usually agree on a few things and disagree on everything else. Duns Scotus and the saints are no exception.

Duns Scotus and the mature Anselm would agree with modern libertarians that freedom requires the ability to do otherwise. But in details they will often disagree, for instance, Duns Scotus would say that God’s grace is always efficacious and does not interfere with free-will. Modern libertarians like Plantinga would disagree by saying that such grace would hinder or rob us of freedom.

Same with Aquinas, his system implicitly entails that there’s freedom in one direction and one choice available, compatibilists would agree with this much. But they would disagree on everything else. Aquinas held that our freedom is teleological and aimed towards the Good or beatific vision. Hume would say that freedom is a mere lack of obstacles to what I desire.