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Google AI: Augustinian Love: Aquinas agreed with Augustine that the core of the will's movement is love (amor or caritas). He posited that the will naturally seeks the universal good (beatitude/God) without needing to choose between alternatives.Anselmian Voluntarism: Conversely, when dealing with specific earthly goods or means to an end, Aquinas adopted aspects of Anselm's volitional focus. He recognized a capacity (liberum arbitrium) that allows the will to freely evaluate alternatives and deliberate.The Intellect as Guide: To avoid pure Anselmian voluntarism, Aquinas made the will subordinate to the intellect. The will is drawn toward what the intellect perceives as good, which makes love both an emotion and an act of the will directed by reason.

Thomas Aquinas navigated the divide between Augustine’s integrated notion of will as caritas and Anselm’s reified voluntarism by distinguishing between the will as an innate, natural appetite (voluntas ut natura) and as a deliberative faculty of choice (voluntas ut ratio). [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Aquinas synthesized these traditions through a carefully structured framework:
  • Augustinian Love: Aquinas agreed with Augustine that the core of the will's movement is love (amor or caritas). He posited that the will naturally seeks the universal good (beatitude/God) without needing to choose between alternatives. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  • Anselmian Voluntarism: Conversely, when dealing with specific earthly goods or means to an end, Aquinas adopted aspects of Anselm's volitional focus. He recognized a capacity (liberum arbitrium) that allows the will to freely evaluate alternatives and deliberate. [1, 2]
  • The Intellect as Guide: To avoid pure Anselmian voluntarism, Aquinas made the will subordinate to the intellect. The will is drawn toward what the intellect perceives as good, which makes love both an emotion and an act of the will directed by reason. [1, 2, 3]
Through this hierarchy, Aquinas honored Augustine’s view that the ultimate state of the will is moral integration and love, while accommodating Anselm's framework of intentional, faculty-based choice for everyday actions.

Would you like to explore how Aquinas’s intellectualist approach impacts his views on grace and free will compared to Augustine, or how it differs from the pure voluntarism of later thinkers like John Duns Scotus? [1]

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