Will
The power of choosing, and its freedom, strength and weakness.
Works to read
- On Free Will (De Libero Arbitrio) by Desiderius Erasmus, 1524
- The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio) by Martin Luther, 1525
- Early Poems: A Boy's Will, North of Boston, Mountain Interval by Robert Frost, 1913–1916
- The Odyssey by Homer, c. 8th century BCE · Great Books
- The Aeneid by Virgil, c. 29–19 BCE · Great Books
- Henry VI, Part 3 by William Shakespeare, c. 1591 · Great Books
- Six Metaphysical Meditations, with Hobbes's Objections and the Replies by Rene Descartes, 1641 (English 1680) · Great Books
- Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant, 1785 · Great Books
- Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant, 1788 · Great Books
- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, 1851 · Great Books
- On First Principles (De Principiis) by Origen, c. 220–230
- History of the Wars, Books I-II (The Persian War) by Procopius of Caesarea, c. 550 CE
Passages
From the texts
For the will of God is not a creature, but before the creature; seeing nothing could be created, unless the will of the Creator had preceded.
— Augustine of Hippo, Confessions
But if things independent of the will and not in our power are nothing to us, with respect to these we must employ confidence; and thus we shall both be cautious and confident, and indeed confident because of our caution.
— Epictetus, The Discourses
Verified quotations
it is quite a correct and even a necessary Idea to regard the act of generation as a process by which a Person is brought without his consent into the world, and placed in it by the responsible free will of others
— Immanuel Kant, The Science of Right
And if predestination really exists, why are free will and reason granted us? Why are we obliged to render an account of our actions?
— Mikhail Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time
Passages are verified quotations from the library that use one of these words: will, choice, choose, free will. Sentences under “From the texts” are copied word for word from the full texts in this library. Read each in its context on the work's page.