Key Arguments

• Humans are newcomers and beginners by virtue of birth, hence take initiative.
• Augustine’s formulation is cited to express that man was created so that there might be a beginning.
• The beginning is of somebody (a who), not of something; with the creation of man the principle of freedom was created.

Source Quotes

To act, in its most general sense, means to take an initiative, to begin (as the Greek word , “to begin,” “to lead,” and eventually “to rule,” indicates), to set something into motion (which is the original meaning of the Latin ). Because they are , newcomers and beginners by virtue of birth, men take initiative, are prompted into action. [ ] (“that there be a beginning, man was created before whom there was nobody”), said Augustine in his political philosophy. This beginning is not the same as the beginning of the world; it is not the beginning of something but of somebody, who is a beginner himself.

Because they are , newcomers and beginners by virtue of birth, men take initiative, are prompted into action. [ ] (“that there be a beginning, man was created before whom there was nobody”), said Augustine in his political philosophy. This beginning is not the same as the beginning of the world; it is not the beginning of something but of somebody, who is a beginner himself. With the creation of man, the principle of beginning came into the world itself, which, of course, is only another way of saying that the principle of freedom was created when man was created but not before.

This beginning is not the same as the beginning of the world; it is not the beginning of something but of somebody, who is a beginner himself. With the creation of man, the principle of beginning came into the world itself, which, of course, is only another way of saying that the principle of freedom was created when man was created but not before. It is in the nature of beginning that something new is started which cannot be expected from whatever may have happened before.

Key Concepts

• Because they are , newcomers and beginners by virtue of birth, men take initiative, are prompted into action.
• “that there be a beginning, man was created before whom there was nobody”), said Augustine in his political philosophy.
• This beginning is not the same as the beginning of the world; it is not the beginning of something but of somebody, who is a beginner himself.
• with the creation of man, the principle of beginning came into the world itself, which, of course, is only another way of saying that the principle of freedom was created when man was created but not before.

Context

Section 24; philosophical grounding of action in natality with an Augustinian citation.