Anne Conway on Liberty

This chapter makes sense of Anne Conway’s account of humans’ free will and capacity to choose to sin given her commitment to the belief that creatures are naturally inclined towards the good. It does so by: first, laying out the foundations of Conway’s metaphysics, including the difference between God’s and humans’ free will; second, explaining the human’s love for that which is similar to her, even when the object loved is of a lesser degree of perfection; and third, showing how moral choices can have implications for the metaphysical natures of creatures. This chapter concludes with Conway’s theodicy, which is grounded in her belief that, despite creatures’ abilities to sin and, thus, to degenerate, God’s goodness nonetheless ensures universal salvation for all his creatures.