A Free Will: Origins of the Notion in Ancient Thought

Michael Frede

Published by University of California Press 2011

A Free Will

Origins of the Notion in Ancient Thought

Michael Frede
Edited by: A. A. Long

Volume 68 in the series Sather Classical Lectures

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520948372

Overview
Contents

About this book

Where does the notion of free will come from? How and when did it develop, and what did that development involve? In Michael Frede's radically new account of the history of this idea, the notion of a free will emerged from powerful assumptions about the relation between divine providence, correctness of individual choice, and self-enslavement due to incorrect choice. Anchoring his discussion in Stoicism, Frede begins with Aristotle--who, he argues, had no notion of a free will--and ends with Augustine. Frede shows that Augustine, far from originating the idea (as is often claimed), derived most of his thinking about it from the Stoicism developed by Epictetus.

Author / Editor information

Frede Michael :

Michael Frede, who died in 2007, held positions successively in the departments of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, and Oxford University, where he held the Chair of the History of Philosophy. In 1997-1998, he was Sather Professor of Classical Literature at UC Berkeley, where he delivered the lectures that make up this volume. A. A. Long is Professor of Classics, Irving Stone Professor of Literature, and Affiliated Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life and From Epicurus to Epictetus: Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy. David Sedley is Lawrence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and the author of Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity (UC Press).

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Editor’s Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Chapter One. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter Two. Aristotle on Choice without a Will Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Chapter Three. The Emergence of a Notion of Will in Stoicism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Chapter Four. Later Platonist and Peripatetic Contributions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
Chapter Five. The Emergence of a Notion of a Free Will in Stoicism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
chapter Six. Platonist and Peripatetic Criticisms and Responses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
Chapter Seven An Early Christian View on a Free Will: Origen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
Chapter Eight. Reactions to the Stoic Notion of a Free Will: Plotinus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
Chapter Nine. Augustine: A Radically New Notion of a Free Will ? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Chapter Ten. Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 224

eBook

Published: February 1, 2011
ISBN: 9780520948372