Section 2: The Natural Limits of Free-Will

I. Man was created for both time and eternity. Here on earth, where he is to prepare himself for the life beyond, he is subject to the same laws as other terrestrial creatures. However, since he holds first rank among, and was made to rule over these creatures,¹ he is empowered to use them as means to achieve his own particular ends.²

¹ Gen. I, 26 sqq.; II, 19 sq.; IX, 2.—Cfr. St. Augustine, Tract, in loa., 33, c. 6; Vergil, Aeneis, VI, 727; Sophocles, Antigone, 332 sqq.; A. Jakob, Der Mensch, die Krone der irdischen Schöpfung, Freiburg 1890.

² 1 Cor. III, 22.

But man is not created for this world alone. He has an immortal soul,³ and is bound so to employ his earthly sojourn that he may attain eternal beatitude. This is the express will of God, which man cannot change, and to that extent his freedom is limited by his supernatural end. However, this limitation by no means abrogates free-will, but rather elevates it to a higher plane of perfection.⁴

³ Rom. XIV, 7 sq.; Acts XVII, 28; Job XIV, 5 sqq.

⁴ Job I, 21; Prov. XXVII, 1; Luke XII, 20; 1 Tim. VI, 7; Jas. IV, 13 sqq.—St. Polycarp, Ep. ad Phil, IV, 1 (ed. Funk, Vol. I, 2nd ed., p. 301). —Tertullian, Ad Uxorem, I, c. 7: "Beyond these things, I advise you to reflect that no one is taken from this world except by God's will, if not even a leaf falls from a tree without God's will. The same One who brings us into the world must also lead us out." (Ed. Leopold, P. II, 68).—Horace, Carm., I, 4, 13; 28, 15.

II. Though he is the lord of the physical universe, man is in several respects subject to nature.

1. His moral life is influenced by natural causes. Certain physical disturbances are regularly followed by definite phenomena in the ethical domain. Statistics show how greatly men are dependent on climate, the weather, seasonal changes, and other physical agencies. They are compelled to battle with nature for their existence and well-being, and this struggle involves a constant expenditure of physical as well as intellectual energy.

2. Man's control of his own actions is limited by the life of the body.⁵ His intellectual knowledge depends upon the senses. Through the organs of the body man receives impressions by the aid of which he forms mental images, concepts or ideas. Moreover, the intellectual and moral life of man is influenced by various bodily conditions, e. g., the need of food and sleep, the sexual instinct, disease. Man has to devote considerable thought and attention to the care of his body and is frequently compelled to combat its impulses. The body has been compared to a dead weight or a prison impeding the intellect in its movements. But this comparison is one-sided. The body is an essential constituent of the compound, man. It is the organ of the soul, subject to its elevating influence. Animated and, as it were, spiritualized by the soul, the body becomes the source of sentiments conducive to moral improvement. ⁶ The life of the body, moreover, furnishes the soul with many occasions for practicing virtue and acts as a strong counterpoise to pride and self-conceit.

⁵ Wisd. IX, 15.—Cfr. J. B. Hirscher, Die christliche Moral, Vol. I, 5th ed., pp. 174 sqq.

⁶ St. John Chrysostom, Orat. de Angusta Porta, i, says that the body is the harp of the soul; the spirit moves the strings, and if this is done in the right way, the instrument gives forth the beautiful melody of virtue. (Migne, P. G., LI, 41).

Whereas the Old Testament emphasizes man's mastery over the earth, the New insists that the body be kept holy because it is a temple of the Holy Ghost.⁷

⁷ 1 Cor. I, 19; III, 16; Rom. VIII, 11; VI, 16-22.

READINGS. —A. Huber, Die Hemmnisse der Willensfreiheit. 2nd ed., Münster 1908.—M. Cronin, The Science of Ethics, Vol. I, Dublin 1909, pp. 169 sqq. —Ellsworth Huntington, World Power and Evolution, Yale University Press, 1919. —J. E. Ross, C. S. P., Christian Ethics, New York 1919, pp. 30 sqq.