Here some rash person,[186] drawing his arguments from some other
school of thought, may object that, "If the Good be indeed good, this
occurs only by chance. A man is not master of what he is (that is,
of his own nature), because his own nature does not depend on himself
(that is, is not due to self-determination). Consequently, he enjoys
neither freedom nor independence, as he acts or withholds action as
he is forced by necessity." Such an assertion is gratuitous, and even
self-contradictory. It destroys all conception of will, liberty and
independence, reducing these terms to being labels, and illusions. He
who advances such an opinion is forced to maintain not only that it
is not within the power of anybody to do or not to do some thing, but
also that the word "liberty" arouses no conception in his mind, and is
meaningless. If however he insist that he does understand it, he will
soon be forced to acknowledge that the conception of liberty bears a
conformity with the reality which he at first denied. The conception
of a thing exerts no interference on its substance ("being"); it can
do nothing by itself, nor can it lead to hypostatic existence. It is
limited to pointing out to us which being obeys others, which being
possesses free will, which being depends on no other, but is master of
its own action, a privilege characteristic of eternal beings so far as
they are eternal, or to beings which attain the Good without obstacle
(like the Soul), or possess it (like Intelligence). It is therefore
absurd to say that the Good, which is above them, seeks other higher
good beyond itself.