Voluntas libera w De fide (II 46–49) Ambrożego z Mediolanu

Marek Sławiński

doi:10.18290/rf26741.4

Published : 2026-03-25

Vol. 74 No. 1 (2026)

Voluntas Libera in Ambrose of Milan’s De Fide (II 46–49)

Marek Sławiński

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2337-8586

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf26741.4

Abstract

This paper examines a short passage from the second book of Ambrose of Milans’s De fide concerning whether the Son of God possesses voluntas libera. My aim is to determine how the Bishop of Milan understood this term. In explaining what is means to possess voluntas libera, Ambrose uses opposing pairs of concepts: acting according to one’s own desire versus acting according to another’s command; velle versus iuberi; arbitrium versus obsequium. This juxtaposition suggests that the central theme of Ambrose’s considerations of voluntas libera is power, understood as both the ability to decide independently on the course of one’s own actions and as the capacity to act in accordance with one’s desires. The fact that one’s desires are evaluated by reason indicates the possession and exercise of this power. In conclusion, I argue that in the analyzed passage from De fide, voluntas libera refers to a desire that is evaluated and chosen by reason.

Keywords:

St Ambrose of Milan, De fide, will, judgment, desire

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Sławiński, M. (2026). Voluntas Libera in Ambrose of Milan’s De Fide (II 46–49). Roczniki Filozoficzne, 74(1), 77–96. https://doi.org/10.18290/rf26741.4

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