Book III, Chapter 38
CHAPTER XXXVIII. He argues against the fifth.
The fifth response holds that the liberty of a created will can be, or was, the cause of such a past or present effect. It seems to speak very freely,1 without any exercise of reason, for it neither clears away the difficulty nor is it true. It does not clear away the difficulty set out above. Suppose, for example, that one who sees in the Word2 is commanded to will and to act only in conformity with the vision, etc., as the thirty-third and the thirty-fifth of this3 argued more fully. Then the difficulty returns. Nor is that response true, since some effects are caused solely by the vision of certain objects in the Word, without any free operation of the will whatsoever, as the thirty-third of this makes plain.
769A CAP. XXXVIII. Arguit contra quintam.
769A REsponsio vero quinta, quae ponit libertatem voluntatis creatae posse, fuisse, vel esse causam effctus huiusmodi praeteriti vel praesentis, videtur multum libere dicere sine actione aliqua rationis; nec enim difficultatem euacuat, nec est vera. Non euacuat difficultatem pramissam:
769B ponatur namque quod praecipiatur videnti in verbo velle et operari tantum conformiter visioni etc. sicut tricesimum tertium, et tricesimum quintum huius plenius arguebant, et reuertitur difficultas. Nec est responsio ista vera; quoniam aliqui sunt effectus causati a sola visione aliquorum obiectorum in verbo sine quacunque operatione libera voluntatis, sicut tricesimo tertio huius patet.
Notes
- 1
libere dicere: "to speak freely" plays on libertas voluntatis, the liberty of the will, which the fifth response asserts. The English keeps the adverb and loses the echo of liberum arbitrium.
↩ - 2
videnti in verbo: "one who sees in the Word" is one who sees things in the divine Word. The blessed, or one granted revelation, see what is to come there. The argument of the preceding chapters concerns a seer of future contingents.
↩ - 3
huius: "of this" is left as Bradwardine wrote it, in the manner of a cross-reference, with capitulum understood. It refers to chapters 33 and 35 of this book, Book III.
↩
Errata: where the keyed text and the 1618 print differ (2)
| Savile | Keyed text (TCP) | 1618 print |
|---|---|---|
| 769A | effctus | effectus |
| 769A | pramissam | praemissam (printed præmissam) |