Free Will, Evil, and Saint Anselm

In this lecture I concentrate on one of the questions that an adequate definition of freedom must address. The question is one with which many contemporary thinkers are currently concerned: need one have alternate possible courses of action in order to be free? This question admits of many formulations. The specific formulation which I address in this lecture is: must I genuinely be ready to take either one of two possible courses of action—to perform or not to perform a given act—in order for my taking either one of these courses of action to be free? This question is admittedly just a small part of the problem of defining freedom. Nevertheless it is a crucial part of the problem of defining freedom. It is also a part of the problem of freedom about which Saint Anselm had a great deal to say.