Free Will

This chapter aims to outline the discussions that animated Latin theology between the twelfth and the first half of the thirteenth century regarding the nature of free will. It thereby seeks to show how the need emerged to identify and discuss the value of the definitions of free will that the theological and philosophical traditions provided to medieval authors. The authors of this period were seeking the most complete of these definitions and a model of how its components should be understood in order to be able adequately to explain the dynamics of moral action underlying the biblical account of the original sin of Adam and Eve. Early scholastic theologians elaborate on this problem by addressing some crucial points. On the one hand, on the basis of the late eleventh- and early twelfth-century discussion, they question whether free will consists in reason or will – or both – and how reason and will relate to each other. On the other hand, the reception of new doctrinal sources, mainly John of Damascus’ account of moral action, meant it became essential to understand whether
free will was a faculty or a habit. This contribution will present the development of this theological discussion, first recalling its roots in previous debates and then focusing on the emerging of different perspectives between
the 1150s and the 1250s