Metaphysical Investigations

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Free will issue has been discussed in Islamic Theology (Kalām) as “the creation of action”, a controversy which divides Islamic theological schools. Fakhr Razi as an Ash’arite Theologian put it under scrutinize in some of his own theological works. Although he is an Ash’arite theologian, but denied “acquisition (Kasb) theory” based on the principle of excluded middle. He, then, to prove that creatures cannot create actions, i.e., God creates actions for human beings, advanced a few arguments. In this paper his arguments will be discussed and studied to assess their authenticity. He held that if creatures were the creators of their own acts, they would know the details of action, e.g., if I wanted to go from A to B, I would know how many meters I have to pass to reach B. But this implication, which Razi took it for granted is not true; because I can go from A to B without knowing how many meters I have to pass. Thus the argument could be refuted. In another argument, he put the idea forward that when there is a “motivation”, the agent cannot avoid that motivation; thus s/he will do what the motivation provokes. Therefore, there is not such a thing as free will. It will be concluded that Razi holds a kind of determinism based on what express so far.

Keywords: Fakhr Razi, creation of human actions, details of the action, motivation

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