A Neglected Stoic Argument for Human Responsibility

Abstract

On two separate occasions Origen attempted to defend the proposition that human beings are personally responsible for their actions.In his comprehensive exposition of Christian theology, On Principles, written about A.D. 220-25, he devoted an entire chapter to the subject of free will, in the first half of which he attempted to demonstrate on philosophical grounds that human beings are responsible for their behavior and that it is within their power (to e<p' rmiv) to do right and avoid sin, as God in his justice demands (De Princ.3. 1.1-5 = SVF 2. 988).'A decade or so later in his treatise On Prayer Origen again defended human responsibility, this time in order to show that God does not foreordain everything that happens, thereby rendering prayer useless, but rather that human beings remain in control of and responsible for their own decisions and actions (De Orat. 6. 1-2 = SVF 2. 989).2Origen's two arguments have long been regarded as influenced by the Stoic literature in defense of moral responsibility, an issue that was being hotiy debated in the philosophical schools in the second and third cenuiries A.D.3 The first of these texts especially has been pressed into service for ^The text of On Principles has been edited by Koetschau (1913) and reedited by Gorgemanns and Karpp (1976).Page and line numbers in my citations are those of Koetschau, which may also be found in the edition of Gorgemanns and Karpp.On the date, see Butterworth vi-viii and Trigg 87.