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Thursday, November 5, 2009

"Freedom of the Will" by Jonathan Edwards,1754


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The will is the ability men have of choosing one course of action rather than another.
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The will is determined when,as a result of certain actions or influences,a decision is made.
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The will is always determined by the greatest apparent good.
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To be free is to be able to do as one wills.
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Freedom is compatible with determination of the will ;
if the will were not determined,
there would be no possibility of moral motivation and no sense in praise or blame.
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The Arminians claim that the will is self-determining
and that it wills indifferently and without cause ;
but this idea is inaccurate and self-contradictory ;
furthermore,it makes virtuous action impossible and moral injunctions senseless.
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(The problem of the freedom of the will,is one of the traditional philosophical problems.
"The Freedom of the Will" - what is the problem ?
Is it whether the will is free ?
Or is it how the will is free ?
Does it even make sense to talk about the will as free ?
A man can be free,but what is the sense of saying that the will -whatever that is- can be free ?
Or is the question the familiar question as to whether the will is free or determined ? )
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Jonathan Edwards,the great Puritan philosopher of the eighteenth century,
the first significant creative mind in American philosophy,
taking his cue from John Locke,whose "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding",1690,he much admired,recognized the difficulties involved in the formulation of the problem.

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