On the Free Choice of the Will Essay

This book by St Augustine contains umpteen philosophical jousts. St Augustine was a Latin speaking philosopher born in what is right away modern day Algeria. He was one of the most prolific philosophers with hundreds of hold up works attributed to him (having survived the passage of time). The book On Free choice of the eachow contains may divine references with the central argument concerning free get out as a gift from god, a gift which leads to manhood becoming sinister due their own constituent(a) flaws.Free will is a commodious theme in the book. I will be critically analyzing Augustines argument that a sagacity that is in control, one that possesses virtue, cannot be make a slave to inordinate trust by some(prenominal)thing equal or tiptop to it, because such a thing would be just, or by anything inferior to it, because such a thing would be too pallid1 . I will be find outing at the cleannesses and strengths of this argument and conclude how convincing his argument is.Augustines first argument round the head teacher be made a slave to inordinate desire contains many an(prenominal) flaws its states Each heading possesses the same degree of excellence and any thing that would attempt such a thing will give birth fallen from justice and become anemicer 2(originally said by Evodius but Augustine agrees to it) in this he is essentially maintaining that any encephalon attempting to enslave some other mind to an inordinate desire will give birth become below the belt and in the process weaker meaning it cannot control the superior mind.The first fuss with this argument is the premise that all minds posses the same degree of excellence, this fantasy is whole wrong as it would be illogical to assume that all humans be intellectually equal. The fact that the foundation of the argument is wrong could respond to debase the entire argument as it is a paramount (and erroneous) notion upon which the argument is built. Augustines arg ument states a Mind cannot be enslaved by something equal or superior to it because that thing would be just 3 Not only does this statement destroy his previous notion that all minds are equal it also contains many faults on its own.for the first time its assumes that a mind that is superior would be just this assumption contains many problems. Firstly it assumes that the smarter you are the more just you would be, this statement is quite the contrary the smarter you are the more likely you are to be able to manipulate and intent making you unjust, one can only look at politicians to work break that the more intelligent you are the more susceptible you would be to carrying out unjust acts, so in my opinion this statement can be easily refuted. It is quite logical to assume that the superior mind will be more likely to try and enslave another mind for some purpose or another.One can only look at the peace among intellectual inferior animals which do not accuse a multitude of nefa rious acts in order to further themselves, argumentation this with the chaos amongst humans and one can begin to see that the superior mind is truly less just than the inferior mind, humans scram pride and ambition which engenders greed and other destructive traits, these are not seen in animals and babies (both of whom have inferior minds) and galvanizes the notion that a superior mind is less just than a weaker one.The next part of his argument that an inferior mind cannot enslave a superior mind because it will be weaker, contains much more logic than his previous arguments. I would not say this statement is wholly turn down but the notion that a weak mind cannot enslave a superior mind is mostly correct in my opinion as it is logical to assume that weak cannot get the hang the strong.On the other hand to completely write off a weak minds chances of enslaving a superior mind would be foolish as many other factors are involved in this process including emotions and circumstanc e, for font if a man with a superior mind is in delight with a woman who possesses an inferior mind he could still be enslaved to inordinate desire by virtue of his love for her which will have warped his reason. Hence under some circumstances a weak mind can over come a superior mind yet it would be prudent to assume that a superior mind will always have the upper hand barring impertinent factors.Finally in my opinion there is a huge inherent flaw in the entire argument of Augustine, I count that pride, ambition, gula and all other various inordinate desires are inherent in humans in general, I do not believe it is required for a mind to sway another into these desires as they already comprise within the human being, it is environmental factors which sway a human being into experiencing these inordinate desires not people and as a result I believe that Augustines arguments are fundamentally flawed.He takes a precise idealistic view on humans believing them to only corrupt due to other unjust people corrupting them. In impartiality I believe (unfortunately) that humans are more inclined to find out inordinate desires due to extenuating factors that catalyze their latent emotions that lead to the august consequences that are engendered by inordinate desires. In conclusion I believe Augustines arguments are mediocre.Their strengths are far and few and hugely outweighed by the flaws In them. His arguments while appearing logical and reasonable contain many imperceptible cracks which can be exploited greatly (and at generation can debase his entire argument) in the case of a debate. On the basis of this I would have to say that his arguments are mediocre at best and while they are somewhat convincing a insolent man would see through them easily.