Author: Paulson, Lex
Title: Libera uoluntas The Political Origins of the Free Will Argument in Cicero’s De fato and Augustine’s Confessions
Review/Collection: In : Pieper, Christoph & Velden, Bram van der ed.), Reading Cicero’s Final Years Receptions of the Post-Caesarian Works up to the Sixteenth Century, Boston Berlin, De Gruyter, 2020, 300 p.
Year edition: 2020
Pages: 97-120
Keywords: Héritage - Fortuna - Legacy, Philosophie - Filosofia - Philosophy
Description: Lex Paulson reviews Cicero’s theory of free will in his late philosophical writings, especially in De fato. Having summarized the major position Cicero defends in the treatise and having clarified how innovative Cicero’s concept was in comparison to his Greek predecessors, Paulson shows that the notion of free will, which depended on virtuous behaviour, was Cicero’s answer to the political challenges of his time. If political virtue could no longer be put into action due to the rupture Caesar’s dictatorship had caused, at least politicians like Cicero could retreat to a kind of inner exile: if philosophy cannot save the state, it can at least save Cicero’s soul and reconcile him to his failures. In the second part of his contribution,Paulson shows that Augustine’s notion of free will depends heavily on Cicero’s concepts, but that he substitutes the political with a religious interpretation. If human societies prove to be imperfect by nature, it is wiser to direct one’s attention to God as the true source of man’s free will. [Pieper and Velden 2020, x]
Works:
Link: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110716313-008/pdf
Author initials: Paulson 2020
Title: Libera uoluntas The Political Origins of the Free Will Argument in Cicero’s De fato and Augustine’s Confessions
Review/Collection: In : Pieper, Christoph & Velden, Bram van der ed.), Reading Cicero’s Final Years Receptions of the Post-Caesarian Works up to the Sixteenth Century, Boston Berlin, De Gruyter, 2020, 300 p.
Year edition: 2020
Pages: 97-120
Keywords: Héritage - Fortuna - Legacy, Philosophie - Filosofia - Philosophy
Description: Lex Paulson reviews Cicero’s theory of free will in his late philosophical writings, especially in De fato. Having summarized the major position Cicero defends in the treatise and having clarified how innovative Cicero’s concept was in comparison to his Greek predecessors, Paulson shows that the notion of free will, which depended on virtuous behaviour, was Cicero’s answer to the political challenges of his time. If political virtue could no longer be put into action due to the rupture Caesar’s dictatorship had caused, at least politicians like Cicero could retreat to a kind of inner exile: if philosophy cannot save the state, it can at least save Cicero’s soul and reconcile him to his failures. In the second part of his contribution,Paulson shows that Augustine’s notion of free will depends heavily on Cicero’s concepts, but that he substitutes the political with a religious interpretation. If human societies prove to be imperfect by nature, it is wiser to direct one’s attention to God as the true source of man’s free will. [Pieper and Velden 2020, x]
Works:
Link: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110716313-008/pdf
Author initials: Paulson 2020
