Problems with free will, possibility, and causality

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blase6 said:
OK, but Aquinas begins by assuming that freedom exists. Does Aquinas attempt to show that the world as we know it cannot exist without free will?
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I am not sure he answers your explicit question, but he will answer
“Whether whatever God wills He wills necessarily?” and
“Whether any cause can be assigned to the divine will?” and
“Whether the will of God imposes necessity on the things willed?” and
“Whether God wills evils?” and
"Whether God has free-will? "
All within Question 19, among other items there.
If you read a question a day, you will have spent as much time as you have spent on this thread, but have much, much, more to show for it. You will need the other 18 questions, or at least 2 through 18 to have a real grasp of 19.

And that is just concerning God’s Will and Free Will. Then he also discusses Man’s will and free will in Questions 82 and 83 for the First Part of the Summa. Question 82 is about the Will of Man, and 83 concerning man’s free will (you need to understand Will before you will understand Free Will. And also the Soul, Soul/Body, etc. I would say you would need the context of Questions 75 through 81 before you would make full sense of 82 and 83.

Thomas, in each question, will list objections to the question (such as why there is no free will), then he will explain what it really is, and finally in each question he will give a short statement at how the objection has misunderstood something about the reality.
 
From my skimming through of Summa Theologica, I nowhere found Aquinas addressing the problem, where events are caused either by necessity or chance. Each “method” of causality rules out the possibility of freedom.

In addition, if God creates a situation where an event can have multiple outcomes without one determined outcome, then all of the options are willed by God at least as possibilities. Therefore, the choice of a creature cannot be held to originate solely in that creature, but ultimately because God gave the creature the option.

It is like God creating a universal “computer simulation” where there are a number of possible outcomes, running the program, and keeping the results eternally, even if they are unfavorable outcomes to God.
 
Free will, Possibility, Causality.
You are experiencing the lack of perception of free will, and it cannot be had (as a perception within yourself) because perception is passive and free will is an active mode of the will. Your senses, even of “choosing” are passive, and your thinking also is a passive (moved) activity rather than original or active (self-moving) activity.

You are always in this state of passive (moved) movement and activity, always in a “decided” state, and so there is no possibility in the sense of being an “undecided” being. Your bodily activities (including thought) are always in passive (moved or caused) movement, which is why you will continue to perceive only Causality and no Free Will.

Possibility is only understood in your soul, which will, hopefully, one day move your thoughts to say the words, “I could actually study the Summa rather than skim it as if I could understand with skimming”. And, instead of perceiving possibility you will make your own by “inventing” a different activity for yourself than what is presented to you by your perceptions.

And that is where I will now leave this conversation. Blessings to you in your soul.
 
blase6 said:
You can keep denying that you always choose what appears best in your mind.
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It is not denial, it is a fact. Every sin is an example where the best is knowingly not chosen.
But you would have a hard time convincing me.
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I am not trying to convince you. I am simply showing that your claims are unfounded and cannot be supported with valid logic.
 
davidv said:
It is not denial, it is a fact. Every sin is an example where the best is knowingly not chosen.

It simply doesn’t work that way. Evil cannot be chosen as evil. It must appear good to us in some way to be able to choose it.

I am not trying to convince you. I am simply showing that your claims are unfounded and cannot be supported with valid logic.
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John_Martin said:
Free will, Possibility, Causality.
You are experiencing the lack of perception of free will, and it cannot be had (as a perception within yourself) because perception is passive and free will is an active mode of the will. Your senses, even of “choosing” are passive, and your thinking also is a passive (moved) activity rather than original or active (self-moving) activity.

You are always in this state of passive (moved) movement and activity, always in a “decided” state, and so there is no possibility in the sense of being an “undecided” being. Your bodily activities (including thought) are always in passive (moved or caused) movement, which is why you will continue to perceive only Causality and no Free Will.

Possibility is only understood in your soul, which will, hopefully, one day move your thoughts to say the words, “I could actually study the Summa rather than skim it as if I could understand with skimming”. And, instead of perceiving possibility you will make your own by “inventing” a different activity for yourself than what is presented to you by your perceptions.

And that is where I will now leave this conversation. Blessings to you in your soul.
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Maybe I understand what you mean by “passive” and “active”. But I disagree with Aquinas on the way that he constantly organizes reality into neat little categories and definitions like that. I don’t think the world is as simple as he sees it.

Also, are you admitting that we can’t believe in free will from the external world unless we have a sense of it inside ourselves?
 
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