On the Relevance of Evil and Will in <i>Liber de duobus Principiis</i>

DOI Web Site

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 『二原理の書』における悪と意志の関係について
  • 『 ニ ゲンリ ノ ショ 』 ニ オケル アク ト イシ ノ カンケイ ニ ツイテ

Search this article

Description

<p>Liber de duobus Principiis (The Book of Two Principles), written by an anonymous Cathar, is characterized by absolute dualism and the negation of free will. However, the argument made in the text regarding free will, illustrated by the fall of the angels, is established only in the context of timeless beings and fundamentally fails because of its inapplicability to temporal human beings.</p><p>However, for the purpose of exploring the concept of will in Liber de duobus Principiis, if we hypothetically apply this anti-free will theory to human beings in the temporal world, then an action that is an effect can be interpreted as the accomplishment of a disposition implanted in advance by either the principle Good or the principle Evil. The will, in the sense of the appetites and the capacity to suppress desire, is derived not from oneself but from one of these principles, that is, it is the fulfilment of either a Good or Evil disposition.</p><p>It follows from this that Cathar morality regards the discrimination of Good from Evil to be necessary only in cases in which an effect is caused by an action that has no relation to the will but is instead caused by an external principle.</p>

Journal

Related Projects

See more

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top