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Aquinas Will Vs Free Will

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PHL206: Later Medieval Philosophy Essay Assignment #1: short Essay on Aquinas The Lord says in John 17, “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the one true God.” Through God’s word, human happiness consists in the knowledge of God, which is the intellect. In this article, Aquinas argues that ultimate human happiness is primarily an operation of the intellect rather than the will. This paper will explain the grounds on which Aquinas denies this role of the will, and a significant role of will plays in the exercises in achieving the intimate good. In Aquinas’ system, the intellect and the will are the two great powers of the mind. Summary from the lecture, the intellect is generally the capacity for reasoning and judging, …show more content…

According to the class lecture, the human soul consists of the plant or vegetative soul, animal or sensory soul, and rational soul, different power of the soul is fundamentally an inclination to be moved by different groups of objects. For instance, the power of the animal soul is the disposition to seek pleasure and avoid pain, and the intellect is a disposition to seek knowledge or truth. No matter when a particular power of the soul is moved, the object that moves the power must necessarily have a good motivation proper to that power. On that account, in order to be a certain power’s good, an object must belong to the set of things that naturally move that power. In the textbook, Aquinas emphasizes that “[W]herever we have order among a number of active powers, that power which regards the universal end moves the powers which regard particular ends”; he thus explains the alternative role the will plays in the exercise of the ultimate end. Whereas the will is a disposition to be moved towards the ultimate end or the universal good – happiness – other powers are only moved towards particular goods instead of the sum of goods; the will can, in some cases, move the other powers of the soul towards obtaining

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In William Manchester’s account of the Middle Ages, A World Lit Only by Fire, he describes many traits that are essential to the medieval mind. Between the decline of classical pagan culture in Western Europe and the rebirth of culture during the Renaissance, the minds of Europeans underwent many changes as they began to stray from Catholicism and divert their attentions to secular affairs under the notions of humanism. Medieval philosophy was heavily influenced by ideas from the classical works of the Greek and Roman worlds. The Middle Ages were a turning point in history that brought major changes to Europe. One of the traits Manchester believes to be essential to the medieval mind is sinfulness.

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The first purpose of "Aquinas for Armchair Theologians" seems to be to inculcate the reader that evil exists and is around us in many different forms that we do not recognize. All the reasons for evils existence that Renick discussed are compared to certain people and other living things.

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Descartes writes that as we were created in God’s image, we are “something intermediate between God and nothingness, or between supreme being and non-being” (38). As Descartes states that we are imperfect beings, we will undoubtedly have defects (37). These defects reside in our faculty of knowledge, our intellect, and the faculty of choice, our will (39). The intellect allows us to perceive and understand ideas and the will simply consisting of the ability to affirm, deny, pursue or avoid a choice (39). Believing that the source of human error was due to the varying scope of our will and intellect, Descartes explains how as God’s intellect is infinite, he can always will what is “Good” due to knowing everything (39).

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For example, Milkman, the main character of the novel possesses a great desire to make a living for himself, discover treasure, and get girls, but his will leads to a great tragedy between him and his girlfriend Hagar, as “He lay there as still as the morning light, and sucked the world's energy up into his own will. And willed her dead. Either she will kill me or she will drop dead” (Morrison 129). Just as Milkman once willed to be with Hagar, his conscience backfires and produces great conflict as Hagar tries to kill him with a knife. Just like someone may create a “will” to pass on their financial assets after their death, Hagar is merely a “will” to Milkman, a temporary asset that he finds no long-term investment in.

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Reason is the part that guides the other parts of the soul, it analysis and rationalizes options, and determines the best overall choice. Spirit is the part that is passionate and strives to conquer challenges, while appetite is the part that desires pleasures and comforts. Plato states that all three parts are balanced properly when reason the one in charge, but when poorly balanced, virtue is lost and vices begin to form. Ignorance is a vice. In Philabus, Plato states that when harmony of the soul is disrupted, one becomes self-ignorant, and can acquire a false sense of beauty, wealth, and virtue.

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This discussion on free will is important because it gives emphasis to the reality that man is not credited to his own instincts and that man’s action will always come from him because he is free to do so. Whereas Dante views free will as the freedom to make judgement that is supported by reason. (Purg. XVI). Furthermore, Virgil claims that love is the source of both good and evil deeds. (Purg XVII)

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He describes the objection as, “all men desire the apparent good, but have no control over the appearance, but the end appears to each man in a form answering to his character” (1114b).   This view argues that all people pursue that which seems good, but some people cannot see the true good, which is out of their control.   The immediate implication of this objection, if it is indeed true, suggests that “no one is responsible for his own evildoing” (1114b).

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To this Descartes turns to our faculty of knowledge and choice, or our intellect and our will (AT 56). According to Descartes, the intellect allows us to perceive ideas but it cannot make judgements, without judgement it cannot alone be the source of human error. Even with a limited intellect, not knowing is merely lacking something which is not the same as making a mistake (AT 56). The will on the other hand is limitless. As Descartes pointed out, there is no greater will than what his own will is capable of, for it is through our infinite will that we are most like God (AT 57).

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(Purg. 17. 97-102) However, to direct mental love towards the First good can never be easy, for mental love involves the free will, and man’s free will always has that tendency to turn towards evil than what is really

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The main topic of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is eudaimonia, i.e. happiness in the “living well” or “flourishing” sense (terms I will be using interchangeably). In this paper, I will present Aristotle’s view on the role of external goods and fortune for the achievement of happiness. I will argue that he considers them a prerequisite for virtue. Their contribution to happiness is indirect, via the way they affect how we can engage in rational activity according to the relevant virtues. I will then object that this view threatens to make his overall account of happiness incoherent.

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In chapter three of Aquinas for Armchair Theologians by Timothy Renick, Aquinas’s philosophy on evil in the world and the free will of humans is heavily discussed. Renick describes a very complex topic and transforms it into something the average person can read and understand. Aquinas answers the questions of whether evil exists, did God create evil, why does evil exist, and if evil exists, who or what removes it. He also answers the questions of whether humans have the free will to make decisions or has God predetermined every decision and its outcome according to his plan. While I found this article somewhat easy to follow, I can understand how some of Aquinas’s arguments can lead to debate or confusion on the nature of God, evil, and free will.

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He argues that the body and soul are two elements that have the same underlying substance. He maintains that a person’s soul is the same as his nature of body; however, he argues that the mind differed from other parts of the body as it lacked a physical feature. In this case, he maintains that the intellect lacks a physical form, and this allows it to receive every form. It allows a person to think about anything, including the material object. In this case, he argues that if the intellect were in a material form, it could be sensitive to only some physical objects.

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Many classical philosophers have given their voice to the nature of human life and what entails its climax. The very nature of human beings has been investigated, broadly, to establish a comprehensive understanding often pegged on morality. Yet, such thoughts have prompted diverse viewpoints with accompanying grounds or reasons. Happiness is an unending topic of discussion in philosophy. This paper explores the similarities and differences in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism to coin a position in whether or not happiness is the ultimate end that human society aspires to acquire.

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At the end of everyone’s lives, the goal appears to be about attaining happiness. Describing how to obtain happiness has been an issue that was debated in the past but is still talked about now . In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle expands on his view of happiness and he focuses particularly on how reason helps recognize and pursue what will lead to happiness and the good life. I feel that Aristotle’s philosophies on happiness are important works within the field of philosophy and he considered one of the………of it . In this paper, I will explore Aristotle’s beliefs regarding happiness then compare and contrast them to those of Martin Seligman.

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“Do good and avoid evil” is a result of the differing educational, religious and cultural influences on man in the various times and places of his historical development. Thomas Aquinas contended that general principles of the natural law cannot be applied to all men in the same way on the great variety of human affairs, thus arises the diversity of positive laws among various people. Human laws deal with changing and contingent matters and often with singulars, do not have the certitude that belongs to the speculative sciences. Each has its own realm of operation and is sufficient that each have the certitude proper to its own realm. [ Ibid. ]

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