““This is the sense in which Augustine says "freedom of choice is not made void but established by grace, since grace heals the will whereby righteousness may freely be loved."" Freedom is something received, not merely exercised. Therefore, in order to determine whether a person is acting freely, we need to know much more than whether or not that person is acting on his or her desires without the interference of others. In Augustine's view, others are in fact crucial to one's freedom. A slave or an addict, by definition, cannot free himself or herself. Others from outside the self - the ultimate Other being God - are necessary to break through the bonds that enclose the self in itself. Humans need a community of virtue in which to learn to desire rightly.””
