Brompton Oratory Young Adults - Human Free Will and the Image of God (Professor Thomas Pink, King's College London)

Talk Summary:

The free will problem is about whether we have a power of control over our own action that leaves how we act up to us and so our responsibility - and whether this control of how we act is compatible with predetermination by prior causes. 

I shall argue that if free will is real, our power of control over how we act must be a power very different from ordinary causal power in the rest of nature. Human freedom involves something distinctive - our bearing the image of God. But that leaves open the possibility that the exercise of freedom might sometimes be predetermined. Within Catholic tradition the idea of a divine predetermination or ‘premotion’ of free human action has sometimes been used to reconcile human freedom with divine providence.

‍Speaker Bio: Thomas Pink is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at King’s College London. He writes on moral, political and legal philosophy, on the metaphysics of human freedom and action, and on the history of philosophy.

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Doors to St Wilfrid's Hall will open at about 7.30pm. The talk starts at 7.45pm.

After the talk, there will be some time for questions and discussion, concluding at around 8.45pm.
After that, light refreshments will be available along with the opportunity to socialise until 10pm.

If you are able to make a donation to help us cover our catering costs, we would be most grateful.

God bless you and we look forward to seeing you!