DANIEL RODRIGUES DA COSTA

Course
Doctorate Degree
Research title
Free will and freedoms in Augustine's philosophy: a study on human autonomy from the semi-Pelagian polemics.
Research abstract

This paper aims to analyze the controversy between Augustine and the so-called semi-Pelagians regarding what the bishop had concluded from his opposition to Pelagius' ideas about free will. With this, we must determine the real concept of freedom in Augustine, through a comprehensive vision of his philosophy, taking as a guide the risk of moral determinism that is in the atmosphere of his latest works, especially De praedestinatione sanctorum and De dono perseverantiae. We will analyze how Augustine defends the compatibility between Grace and free will to verify, thus, if this new concept of freedom guarantees the possibility of human autonomy and its moral responsibility, or if Augustine, as the Semi-Pelagians suspect, does not escape determinism.

Graduate Advisor
Lorenzo Mammì
Funding
CAPES
Date of defense
09/05/2023