Robert Halifax OFM and the Middle Act of the Will

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the emergence of a middle act of the will especially by Franciscan thinkers challenged the traditional, twofold division of the acts of the will. Critical of the new trend, Robert Halifax OFM opted for returning to the Augustinian understanding of the acts of the will. This chapter investigates his rejection of a middle act of the will in question 4 of his commentary on the Sentences, and ties it to his theory of change in question 5. Within the latter, Halifax makes a most original and intricate choice: with regard to the acts of the will, he adopts the succession theory about the latitude of forms, yet refuses any sudden change in the will itself.