## Understanding Human Freedom with Aquinas

In our previous newsletters, we have been exploring the concept of human freedom and how it relates to God's grace. Today, we will dive deeper into St. Thomas Aquinas' perspective on human freedom and the role of the will.

### The Modern Understanding of Freedom

The modern understanding of freedom often revolves around the idea of choosing without constraint. It is commonly believed that freedom means opting for whatever we determine, without any external influence. However, Aquinas offers a more profound and nuanced account of human freedom.

### The Will as a Rational Appetite

According to Aquinas, our will is not merely a faculty of choosing between contraries. While choice is one aspect of the will, its more fundamental feature is that it is a faculty of desiring or even loving. The will is a rational appetite that hungers for the good. We naturally aim for what we perceive as good, and if we don't see something as good in any respect, we will never choose it.

### Larger Projects and Goals

Our lives are not simply a series of individual choices but rather a collection of larger projects and goals. We aim at specific ends and make numerous choices in order to achieve them. For example, a student going off to university aims to obtain a degree and makes various choices in service of that goal. An athlete training for the Olympics wakes up early, follows a strict diet, and engages in rigorous exercise because they see these actions as good means to achieve their desired end.

### The Emergence of Freedom

From Aquinas' perspective, freedom, or our act of free choice, emerges from the will as it desires some end as good. Based on what we desire, we freely choose actions that align with our goals. However, it is crucial to consider the ends or goals we set for ourselves. Some goals lead to human flourishing and happiness, while others may only bring frustration and disappointment.

### The Ultimate End: God

Aquinas asserts that the only true source of complete satisfaction and happiness is God. Our freedom reaches its full amplitude and power when we freely know God by faith and love Him through supernatural charity. Pursuing goals incompatible with God limits the scope of the human person and chains our wills to desires that are not truly good for us.

### Sin and Addiction

Aquinas compares every act of sin to taking heroin. Sin turns us away from God, our true good, and fixates our wills on partial created things such as pleasure, money, honor, or even ourselves. Our nature is capable of freely choosing natural goods that lead to some measure of happiness, but dwelling in eternal life with God is beyond our natural capacity. However, through God's grace, freely given to us through Christ, we can desire and choose to love God above all else.

### Experiencing True Freedom

When we embrace God's grace and live according to His teachings, we experience the fullness of our freedom. We fulfill our purpose by knowing and loving the supreme good for its own sake. Let us remember that our freedom is not about choosing without any constraints but rather choosing what aligns with our ultimate end, which is God.

For further readings, podcasts, and videos on this topic, visit [Aquinas101.com](https://www.aquinas101.com/). Sign up for one of our free video courses on Aquinas and don't forget to like and share this newsletter with your friends.

Because it matters what we choose.


Understanding Human Freedom with Aquinas

- Aquinas has a different understanding of human freedom compared to the modern understanding
- Modern understanding of freedom is choosing without constraint, while Aquinas believes the will is primarily a faculty of desiring or loving
- Human lives are not just a series of individual choices, but larger projects with goals
- Aquinas believes that pursuing certain ends, such as money or power, will not lead to true happiness
- Only God can satisfy all our desires and be our final end
- Sin turns us away from God and limits our freedom
- Our wills can be moved by God's grace to desire and choose to love God
- Our freedom is fulfilled when we know and love the supreme good for its own sake

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How is it possible that God's grace can move us freely to make saving acts of faith, hope, and love? Isn't this simply a contradiction? 

The highest good of the human person is to dwell in eternal life with God. This is something that is infinitely above our natural capacity, but God, by the gift of his grace that comes to us from Christ, can freely move us to desire and to choose to love God above all things: to believe the words of Christ, to entrust ourselves to the power of his sacraments, and to profess the faith of the church. When we do these things, we are in fact experiencing what our freedom was made for in its full amplitude to know, and thus, to love the Supreme good for its own sake.

Freedom (Aquinas 101) - Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.

For readings, podcasts, and more videos like this, go to http://www.Aquinas101.com. While you’re there, be sure to sign up for one of our free video courses on Aquinas. And don’t forget to like and share with your friends, because it matters what you think!

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How is it possible that God's grace can move us freely to make saving acts of faith, hope, and love?

The modern presupposition is that it is simply incompatible with freedom for our will to be moved, even moved by God.

But Aquinas has an older and in fact much richer and deeper account of human freedom.

Freedom in a modern understanding often means to choose without constraint, to opt for whatever I determine, or to put it a little more technically, to choose between contraries.

So I walk into a restaurant and I look at the menu.

I have a range of possibilities before me.

I could eat chicken or beef or even fish, and I opt for whatever I choose.

And if anyone tells me what to choose, or pushes me to choose 1 option rather than another, then it seems like my freedom has been limited or diminished.

Now this modern understanding of the nature of freedom is only partial and Aquinas would say it's a misleading description of human action.

So by thinking with Aquinas, we can go deeper in understanding the human will and thus human freedom.

Thomas Aquinas would say in every choice we make we're aiming at something that we regard as good and if we don't regard something as good in at least some respect we'll never choose it.

Our will therefore is not primarily a faculty of choosing, of opting between contraries.

Choice is only 1 of the acts of the will.

The more fundamental feature of the will is that it is a faculty of desiring or even of loving.

The will is a rational appetite, and it desires, it hungers for the good.

Whatever our minds grasp as good for me, especially as good for me here and now, that is what I will in some measure will for myself.

Further, we see that our lives are not simply a series of 1 individual choice after another.

Yesterday I chose beef, today I choose fish.

We aim at some goal and we make many choices in order to arrive at it.

So, for example, a student who's going off to university is aiming at obtaining a degree and so she makes many individual choices in service of that goal.

She registers for her classes, she buys her books, she studies for her exams.

And an athlete who wants to compete in the Olympics, he'll get up early in the morning in order to train, he might lift weights, eat a special diet, And even if sometimes he doesn't feel like doing those things, he still chooses to do them because his mind apprehends his training as good in view of his end competing in the Olympics.

So he chooses those things freely because his will is focused on the end and regards this training as a good means or the best means to get to what he desires.

So if we think about this, we begin to see that freedom or our act of free choice is something that emerges from the will as it desires some end as good.

And in view of what we desire, we freely choose a fitting action that will lead us to our end.

Aquinas would tell us at this point to step back and look at the many ends or goals that human beings can set for themselves and the many individual choices they might make to reach those ends.

Some ends are consistent with human flourishing or happiness.

But there are other goals that we might mistakenly set out to pursue, but that will only lead us to frustration.

Aquinas thinks, for example, that pursuing money or power or fame or honor, If you make it your ultimate end, these things, they will not make you truly happy.

Whenever we choose a course of action in pursuit of some end that's unworthy of us, something that's not leading us to our true flourishing, We're in a sense acting freely.

But also in truth, the more we cut away from what's truly good for us, the more limited our lives become.

It's possible for you freely to choose to use heroin, for example, the first time you use it.

But as you make the choice again and again, most people will find themselves increasingly unfree.

Their will will become chained to this desire, and it's a desire that's not worthy of the human creature made in the image of God.

In the final analysis, only God is sufficient to quell all our desires, to satisfy us completely so that there's nothing more left to desire.

So only God can be our final end, Aquinas says.

And this is the true reason for our freedom and the only way for our freedom to reach its full amplitude and power.

We have the powers of intellect and will so that in this life we would freely know God by faith and love him by supernatural charity.

But if we use those powers in order to pursue something incompatible with God, then we're in fact reducing the scope of the human person.

We are enchaining our wills so that they'll be addicted to what is not good for us.

According to Aquinas, every act of sin is a bit like taking heroin.

It turns us away from God, our true good, and the only 1 who can make us truly happy.

And what is more, our wills then become focused on some partial created thing, pleasure or money or honor or our own selves, in such a way that we become chained to these things, fixated on them.

Indeed, in creating us, God has already ordered us to certain natural goods which can lead us to some measure of natural happiness, things like the good of friendship, family life, of knowing the truth, living well and according to virtue.

The desires for these things are natural to human beings and our nature is in principle capable of freely choosing the natural means that will lead us towards them.

But the highest good of the human person is to dwell in eternal life with God, and this is something that is infinitely above our natural capacity.

But God, by the gift of his grace that comes to us from Christ, can freely move us to desire and to choose to love God above all things, to believe the words of Christ, to entrust ourselves to the power of his sacraments, to profess the faith of the church.

And when we do these things, we are in fact experiencing what our freedom was made for in its full amplitude, to know and thus to love the supreme good for its own sake.

For readings, podcasts, and more videos like this, go to Aquinas101.com.

While you're there, be sure to sign up for 1 of our free video courses on Aquinas.

And don't forget to like and share with your friends, because it matters what


Speaker 0: How is it possible that God's grace can move us freely to make saving acts of faith, hope, and love? Isn't this simply a contradiction? The modern presupposition is that it is simply incompatible with freedom for our will to be moved, even moved by God. But Aquinas has an older and in fact much richer and deeper account of human freedom. We need to unpack it a little bit.

First the modern understanding. Freedom in a modern understanding often means to choose without constraint, to opt for whatever I determine, or to put it a little more technically, to choose between contraries. So I walk into a restaurant and I look at the menu. I have a range of possibilities before me. I could eat chicken or beef or even fish, and I opt for whatever I choose.

And if anyone tells me what to choose, or pushes me to choose 1 option rather than another, then it seems like my freedom has been limited or diminished. Now this modern understanding of the nature of freedom is only partial and Aquinas would say it's a misleading description of human action. So by thinking with Aquinas, we can go deeper in understanding the human will and thus human freedom. St. Thomas Aquinas would say in every choice we make we're aiming at something that we regard as good and if we don't regard something as good in at least some respect we'll never choose it.

Our will therefore is not primarily a faculty of choosing, of opting between contraries. Choice is only 1 of the acts of the will. The more fundamental feature of the will is that it is a faculty of desiring or even of loving. The will is a rational appetite, and it desires, it hungers for the good. Whatever our minds grasp as good for me, especially as good for me here and now, that is what I will in some measure will for myself.

Further, we see that our lives are not simply a series of 1 individual choice after another. Yesterday I chose beef, today I choose fish. In fact, we engage in larger projects. We aim at some goal and we make many choices in order to arrive at it. So, for example, a student who's going off to university is aiming at obtaining a degree and so she makes many individual choices in service of that goal.

She registers for her classes, she buys her books, she studies for her exams. And an athlete who wants to compete in the Olympics, he'll get up early in the morning in order to train, he might lift weights, eat a special diet, And even if sometimes he doesn't feel like doing those things, he still chooses to do them because his mind apprehends his training as good in view of his end competing in the Olympics. So he chooses those things freely because his will is focused on the end and regards this training as a good means or the best means to get to what he desires. So if we think about this, we begin to see that freedom or our act of free choice is something that emerges from the will as it desires some end as good. And in view of what we desire, we freely choose a fitting action that will lead us to our end.

Aquinas would tell us at this point to step back and look at the many ends or goals that human beings can set for themselves and the many individual choices they might make to reach those ends. Some ends are consistent with human flourishing or happiness. But there are other goals that we might mistakenly set out to pursue, but that will only lead us to frustration. Aquinas thinks, for example, that pursuing money or power or fame or honor, If you make it your ultimate end, these things, they will not make you truly happy. Whenever we choose a course of action in pursuit of some end that's unworthy of us, something that's not leading us to our true flourishing, We're in a sense acting freely.

Yes, it's true. But also in truth, the more we cut away from what's truly good for us, the more limited our lives become. It's possible for you freely to choose to use heroin, for example, the first time you use it. But as you make the choice again and again, most people will find themselves increasingly unfree. Their will will become chained to this desire, and it's a desire that's not worthy of the human creature made in the image of God.

What will make us truly happy? In the final analysis, only God is sufficient to quell all our desires, to satisfy us completely so that there's nothing more left to desire. So only God can be our final end, Aquinas says. And this is the true reason for our freedom and the only way for our freedom to reach its full amplitude and power. We have the powers of intellect and will so that in this life we would freely know God by faith and love him by supernatural charity.

But if we use those powers in order to pursue something incompatible with God, then we're in fact reducing the scope of the human person. We are enchaining our wills so that they'll be addicted to what is not good for us. According to Aquinas, every act of sin is a bit like taking heroin. It turns us away from God, our true good, and the only 1 who can make us truly happy. And what is more, our wills then become focused on some partial created thing, pleasure or money or honor or our own selves, in such a way that we become chained to these things, fixated on them.

Indeed, in creating us, God has already ordered us to certain natural goods which can lead us to some measure of natural happiness, things like the good of friendship, family life, of knowing the truth, living well and according to virtue. The desires for these things are natural to human beings and our nature is in principle capable of freely choosing the natural means that will lead us towards them. But the highest good of the human person is to dwell in eternal life with God, and this is something that is infinitely above our natural capacity. But God, by the gift of his grace that comes to us from Christ, can freely move us to desire and to choose to love God above all things, to believe the words of Christ, to entrust ourselves to the power of his sacraments, to profess the faith of the church. And when we do these things, we are in fact experiencing what our freedom was made for in its full amplitude, to know and thus to love the supreme good for its own sake.

Speaker 1: For readings, podcasts, and more videos like this, go to Aquinas101.com. While you're there, be sure to sign up for 1 of our free video courses on Aquinas. And don't forget to like and share with your friends, because it matters what

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Freedom (Aquinas 101)