Hope Sample (Carleton College), "Anne Conway on Divine and Creaturely Freedom"
Forthcoming, British Journal for the History of Philosophy
By Dave Ruthenberg and Hope Sample
There’s a difference between power and perfection. After all, one can have hot chocolate and a full pound of tater tots for breakfast, knowing full well the terrible consequences. Assuming that one has some basic food knowledge and agency, one could also refrain. Therefore, this seems to be central to human freedom: the power to do stupid stuff.
But we cannot easily use this human model of freedom to understand the freedom of a perfectly rational being. God is the highest good, acting always and only out of wisdom and goodness. God’s freedom cannot be measured by the power to do stupid stuff. Instead, what seems to be central to divine freedom is the power to do smart stuff.
According to Anne Conway, all things bear the mark of this perfectly rational creator. It is easy to see the divine reflected in the charitable acts of a saint or the artful jest of a skilled clown. It is unclear how the idiotic decisions of free but silly creatures can reflect the freedom of their rational superior. Where was God when we ate that terrible breakfast, ruining tater tots forever? To learn the shocking truth, read Hope Sample’s forthcoming “Anne Conway on Divine and Creaturely Freedom” in British Journal of the History of Philosophy.
Bio: Hope and Dave met as undergrads at an open mic called Theatre of Ted. They still write together today!