The Augustinian origins of free will

Le Regard Libre N° 73 - Antoine Bernhard

With the progress of science, particularly neuroscience, the possibility of free will is increasingly called into question. Every day, we discover new determinisms, i.e. conditionings to act in a certain way in a given context. Man's capacity for self-determination, which we hold so dear, may appear to be nothing more than an illusion. But before modern science got to grips with it, the question of free will already had a long history. Let's go back to the origins of a founding idea in the history of the West.

Augustine of Hippo, or Saint Augustine, whose monumental works have marked the entire history of Western thought, first conceptualized the idea of free will. In his treatise On Free Will, a kind of Socratic dialogue between himself and his friend Evod