Classical Greek Philosophy And The Problem Of Freedom And Free Will
Abstract
A polemic with such authors like H. Arendt and G. Reale , this article analyses the specific Greek understanding of the phenomenon of willing and freedom. This understanding is connected to the view of a human nature, in which the concept “dynamis” is the most important one. In Greek philosophy freedom stands for man’s ability to be in the way he does choose himself. Will is the power holding a man responsible for his moral choices, making him free in the choice between good and evil, enabling to establish his own hierarchy of values. The Christian and the Greek concepts of volition serve different aims as explanations of two different human experiences: the religious and the psychological one. Hence the comparison of those concepts is unjustifiable or, at least, problematic. Key words GREEK PHILOSOPHY, FREE WILL, FREEDOM.