4. The first question, then, concerned man’s conduct and destiny. The forerunners of the Mutazilites, who were called Qadarites, taught the Freedom of the human Will; and the Mutazilites, even in later times, when their speculations were directed more to theologico-metaphysical problems, were first and foremost pointed to as the supporters of the doctrine of Divine Righteousness,—which gives rise to no evil, and rewards or punishes man according to his deserts—, and, in the second place, as the confessors, or avowed supporters of the Unity of God, i.e. the absence of properties from his Essence considered per se [or the predicateless character of the essential nature of God]. The systematic statement of their doctrines must have been influenced by the Logicians (v. IV, 2 § 1); for even in the first half of the 10th century, the Mutazilite system began with the confession of the Unity of God, while the doctrine of God’s Righteousness, announced as it is in all his works, is relegated to the second place. The responsibility of man, as well as the holiness of God, who is incapable of directly causing man’s sinful actions, had to be saved by asserting the freedom of the Will. Man must therefore be lord of his actions; but he is lord of these only, for few entertained any doubt that the energy which confers ability to act at all, and the power of doing either a good or a bad action come to man from God. Hence the numerous subtle discussions,—amalgamated with a criticism of the philosophic conception of Time—on the question whether the power, which God creates in man, is bestowed previous to the action, or coincidentally and simultaneously therewith: For, did the power precede the act, then it would either have to last up to the time of the act, which would belie its accidental character (cf. II, 3 § 12), or have ceased to exist before the act,—in which case it might have been dispensed with altogether.