Augustine's Theory Of Free Will And Compatibilism

The debate on the issue of free will has never stopped.Many philosophers have put forward their own theory of free will,and Augustine's exposition of the theory of free will is a classic that we can not get around to.Augustine's thinking on the question of free will originates from his questioning of the origin of evil,and his questioning of free will reflects the difference between man and animals,that is,man has will,which is the premise of man's responsibility for his own behavior.Before Augustin put forward the free will,the law can not solve the problem of people 's own legitimacy.Through questioning the free will of human beings,Augustine defined the concept of criminal responsibility at the philosophical and ethical level: human beings commit crimes according to the free will,because this behavior is out of their own will,so people should bear the consequences for their behavior.Free will makes people bear absolute responsibility.As Professor Huang Yusheng said,"accepting and bearing the consequences of their own actions in their own existence" is the most basic responsibility of people.And God punishes the crimes committed by people,which implies the sense of responsibility for people: people must bear the consequences of their own actions.However,there are three main views on human freedom and moral responsibility: freedom theory,determinism and compatibility theory.The theory of freedom holds that people are free,so they need to bear moral responsibility for their own behavior;the theory of determinism holds that people are not free,but they also need to bear moral responsibility for their own behavior;the theory of compatibility holds that the theory of freedom and the theory of determinism can be compatible,the behavior of people can have reasons,but people are also free,so they need to be responsible for their own behavior.The compatibilists generally understand freedom as doing what we want to do.They think that even if determinism is true,people's free will is true,and both can be true at the same time.The author holds the position of compatibility,and holds that determinism should not threaten moral responsibility even if it recognizes causality.The main purpose of this paper is to study Augustine's theory of free will to investigate how Augustine demonstrates the relationship between determinism(God)and free will under the religious background of monism,and to connect the viewpoints of compatibilists and new compatibilists,so as to evaluate whether compatibilism is an effective way to solve the problem of free will.This paper is divided into five parts.The first part is the introduction,which mainly introduces the origin of the problem of free will,the compatibility theory and the research status of free will at home and abroad.In the first chapter,the author introduces the theory of free will in early and late Augustine.In the early stage,Augustine's theory of free will mainly focused on the origin of evil,while in the late stage,he focused on the relationship between God's predestination and grace,as well as human's free will.The second chapter mainly analyzes the reasons for the change of Augustine's theory of free will.It starts with Augustine's personal experience and life experience,and analyzes the theoretical change in connection with his religious belief transformation process.In the third chapter,the author mainly introduces the basic concepts of classical compatibility theory and contemporary compatibility theory,one part introduces the interpretation of classical compatibility theory on free will and determinism,one part analyzes the views of new compatibility theory in detail,such as Harry Frankfurt,Susan Wolff and Peter Strauss,and finally points out the advantages and difficulties of compatibility theory.Through the study of the above theories,we can answer whether compatibility theory can solve the problem of free will.