The first recorded use of the word 'freedom' in English comes in the penultimate chapter of Alfred the Great's translation of Boethius' De consolatione philosophiae (c.888), in a discussion of free will: 'Þu segist þæt God sylle ællcum freodom swa god to donne swa yfel' - 'You say that God gives to everyone the freedom to do both good and evil.' 'Boethius' goes on to ask why God allows men to be wicked and make evil choices. Ah, that old chestnut, 'Philosophy' thinks. (I make no apology for being so free in my translation: it's got nothing on the freedoms that Alfred, his purposes as much political as scholarly, took with the original, such as bringing God into it.) Imagine a king, Philosophy says, whose subjects were all slaves, with no free men in the kingdom: that wouldn't be very good now, would it? Indeed not, Boethius agrees. Well then, continues Philosophy, in that case it certainly wouldn't do for God's kingdom to have no free creatures in it, would it? Quite so, Boethius says, before going on to ask: but how do you reconcile free will with divine omniscience? (Tony Blair must be relieved that Boethius doesn't sit on a House of Commons select committee.) Philosophy has a pretty decent answer. (The Prime Minister must long to have someone like that on his side.)

LRB 24 July 2003 | PDF Download