Being and Doing Freedom

The intention to create a rival to Rome can come to Constantine only through his apprehension of an objective lack: Rome lacks a counter-weight; to this town, still deeply pagan, it is necessary to oppose a Christian city that, for now, is missing. The creation of Constantinople can be understood as an act only if, first, the conception of a new town preceded the action itself or if, at the least, this conception functions as the organizing theme of all the subsequent steps. The creation of Constantinople can be understood as an act only if, first, the conception of a new town preceded the action itself or if, at the least, this conception functions as the organizing theme of all the subsequent steps. But this conception can just be a representation of the town as possible. It grasps the town in its essential characteristic, as a possible that is desirable and not achieved.

Political science · Free Will and Agency · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · Whitehead's Philosophy and Applications