Augustine On The Free Will Summary

Centered around a conversation between Augustine and his friend Evodius in during the reign of the Roman Empire, “On the Free Choice of the Will” is a philosophical discussion over God and evil with focus onto how evil is defined as well as how humanity's freedom to make choices gives birth to malice. Augustine claims that God cannot be the cause of evil, an all powerful omnipotent and benevolent creator cannot create what is to be defined as evil. He supports his claim by examining how evil is defined and the role that human choice plays in sin and how necessity of free will for the creation of wickedness such that there may be contrast to good. To begin the text he is asked as to the definition of evil, “we use the word ‘evil’ in two senses:
By acknowledging multiple definitions of sins he is able to partition how each is discussed in regards to God and man. While God may not do evil, he may cause suffering on those who have sinned and therefore committed the second form of evil, an impossibility for a divine being that is wholly good. This is a good starting point to deconstruct the argument against God’s omnibenevolence, where there may be sin as it is defined yet it is not a sin for God to commit. The punishment of murder, while causing suffering to the murderer, is right and just as a response to the sin that was committed. The response to any choice of will must be accepted by the choosing party, which is where he draws another argument of how man decides to be good or evil. Augustine poses that choices are based out of inordinate desire, synonymous with cupidity, that all humans make. Evodius offers a counterpoint that cupidity drives every evil deed to which Augustine responds, “All wicked people, just like good people, desire to live without fear. The difference is that the good in
A lengthy discussion through Book II, Augustine explains how without evil there would be no way to recognize good, “For the goodness admired in God’s justice - how could it exist if human beings lacked the free choice of will? No action would be either a sin or a good deed if it were not performed by the will.” (Augustine Book 2, 30). With only goodness in the world and nothing by which to provide contrast, there would be no way for God to give good to the world as he would be unable to justly reward good actions as all actions are the same good. By allowing the evil to exist in the world by choice of man and then providing judgement based upon course of action God lets man justly receive his judgement whether punishment or reward. Similar to how fish cannot do not understand they are underwater until they are removed from it would be the world before and after the addition of sin by choice of man. Augustine furthers the rationale that contrast must exist for understanding of goodness by providing Evodius with a tangible example, “If I look for (the number) one in material objects and know that I have not found it, I must surely know what I was looking for and what I did not find.” (Augustine Book 2, 45). Without the understanding of counting, specifically the number 1 which all other numbers are composed of, there is no way to quantify a