Theological Theses · §1977 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

The necessity foreknowledge brings is hypothetical, of the consequence, of infallibility, not antecedent

In short, seeing present things brings a certain necessity upon them, but only a hypothetical one. The schools call it consequent necessity, or the necessity of the consequence, and it fits perfectly well with their freedom or contingency.

So too the foresight of future things means that they will necessarily happen, but only by a necessity that rests on a hypothesis, usually called the necessity of infallibility. It does not stop them being free and contingent in themselves and absolutely.

The only necessity that removes contingency and freedom is the one called antecedent and absolute, which is a necessity not merely of the consequence but of the consequent as well.

Latin

XXVI. Uno verbo, sicut ex visione rerum praesentium inducitur quaedam earum necessitas, sed hypothetica tantum, & quae in Scholis dicitur necessitas consequens, sive consequentiae, quaeque optime consistit cum earum libertate, sive contingentia: sic etiam ex rerum futurarum praevisione, sequitur quidem eas necessario eventuras esse, sed necessitate tantum ex hypothesi, & quae dici solet infallibilitatis, quae non obstat quominus in se & absolute liberae sint, & contingentes. Nam si qua necessitas contingentiam & libertatem tollit, illa demum est quae dicitur antecedens atque absoluta, nec solum consequentiae, sed etiam consequentis.

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