Okay, not gonna lie. I read the whole thing, I swear! I just didn't understand it. I got the whole we're arguing about free-will thing but that's about it. Some that I did find interesting in all of this was a level of free-will that comes early on in Book V. It is in Prose II, Philosophy Asserts the Existence of Free Will. Philosophy says that we do have free will but only on certain levels. We deny ourselves this freedom when we concern ourselves with matters too minuscule for us. Her first or highest level is when the Human Spirit is Free while contemplating the mind of God. This, she says, is when we are at our highest level of free-will that we will ever attain. Now, taking a stair step down, Lady Philosophy says that when our souls sink into our human bodies we lose free will. I suppose this is when we are born? Which kinda makes me think of I believe Aristotle and something about when we die we come back as someone else and we never really learn anything we just recollect it? I'm sorry, I probably butchered that. Anyway, they next step down is when we become bound by earthly members. I really have nothing to say on this, simply because I don't know what she means. Finally, we have our lowest level of free will, which Lady Philosophy equates to slavery. This is when the Spirit is given over to vices and has fallen away from possession of its reason. So like, alcoholism, drugs, sex, to an extent, even a love of learning.
I commented on Sierra and Darby
I really appreciated this portion as well! I think, to an extent, Philosophy is correct in recognizing the limits set on humanity when we bind ourselves to materialistic and unintelligible things. We are essentially limiting God-given abilities to reach for the intelligible; a deep desire to seek the richer wisdom in truth! However, I might interpret her levels of limit actually as the products of sin and brokenness in the world. There is definitely something to be said though about the limits we put on our own personal free wills by the concepts and things we choose to prioritize!
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