On Augustine's Concept Of "evil

It is generally believed that Augustine put forward Free Will in order to solve the problem of evil,but whether the responsible subject is Free Will?At present,there are two views in the academic circle.One is that the responsible subject is Free Will,and Augustine is the pioneer of this view.The other view denies that the subject of responsibility is Free Will,and there is a debate between the two sides.This paper attempts to return to Augustine’s thought from the text of On Free choice of the will,taking the nature of evil,the source of evil and the redemption of evil as the problem,and taking belief and reason as the clue to expand the discussion.First of all,because of Augustine’s faith in life experience and the rational dilemma of Manichaeism,he woke up to the problem of evil.The death of his best friend,the debate with Fostus,the preaching of Ambrose and the grace of God led to his faith,which led to Augustine’s criticism of Manichaeism;The Manichean dualist worldview leads to fatalism and unaccountable subject,and epistemologically leads to the rational dilemma of dogmatism and moral relativism.Secondly,in order to solve the Manichaean dilemma,Augustine proposed the Will.In the broad sense,Will refers to all psychological phenomena and desires,and in the narrow sense to the inner capacity to refuse or obey.The reality of the Will is guaranteed by reason,which,as its object,has the reality,because reason is intrinsic,direct,and correct.In addition,when examining Free Will under the concept of "nature",Augustine pointed out that the nature of evil is nothingness and the nature of will is freedom;Free will is divided into the Free Will of Adam and his descendants;If and only if the Will alone is the responsible subject,but not the rational.Again,the relationship between God’s foreknowledge and Free Will is the relationship between faith and reason,and faith and reason are unified.Reason knows beyond doubt that man has free will and faith,and faith is God’s foreknowledge,so Augustine insists on the reality of God’s foreknowledge and free will.Faith opens the infinite realm to which reason is directed,so that faith and reason are united in free will.Free will is not only the first responsible subject with self-identity,and evil comes from free will turning to temporary things.Finally,original sin as an innate tendency to evil requires God’s grace,but grace is unified with free will.Through God’s grace free will produces faith,hope,love and ultimately the redemption of evil.