Lorenzo Valla, the Reformers and Free-Will

Reflection on free-will and determinism in Early Modern Philosophy (e.g. in the work of Thomas Hobbes and G.W. Leibniz) was precipitated by the claim of the Reformers Luther, Melanchthon, and Calvin that libertarian free-will is inconsistent with the divine attributes of omnipotence and foreknowledge. The Reformers didn’t take this insight to be their own discovery, however. Rather, they pointed to Lorenzo Valla, the great 15th century Italian Renaissance philosopher, as having made this important discovery in his book De libero arbitrio (1439). In modern times, commentators on Valla have by and large rejected the Reformers’ anti-libertarian reading of Valla, holding instead that Valla was a friend of libertarian free-will. In my talk I argue that this is a mistake. I argue that a close reading of Valla’s book makes it clear that Valla is not only concerned with undermining libertarian free-will, but that his line of reasoning anticipates in remarkable detail the sort of arguments that later emerged in the work of the Reformers of the 16th century and were later endorsed by early modern philosophers such as Hobbes and (arguably) Leibniz. Anders Kraal (PhD Uppsala) is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the History of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Calgary. He has papers published or forthcoming in Synthese, Philosophy Compass, History and Philosophy of Logic, Hume Studies, International Philosophical Quarterly, and elsewhere. The present talk is based on his paper “Valla-style determinism and Luther’s De servo arbitrio,” forthcoming in Harvard Theological Review. This event is free and open to the public. Presented by MARCS: The Medieval and Renaissance Cultural Studies Research Group

Location:

Social Sciences 1015

Speaker:

Dr. Anders Kraal, Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary

More information at http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/calendar/lorenzo-valla-reformers-and-free-will