117:
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goal. An all-things-considered assessment of the situation will bring full knowledge of a decision's outcome and worth, linked to well-developed principles of the good. A person, according to
Socrates, never chooses to act poorly or against his better judgment and, therefore, actions that go against what is best are simply a product of being
150:
Plato's
Socrates attests that akrasia does not exist, claiming "No one goes willingly toward the bad" (Protagoras 358d). If a person examines a situation and decides to act in the way he determines to be best, he will pursue this action, as the best course is also the good course, i.e. man's natural
208:
agent...my subject concerns evaluative judgments, whether they are analyzed cognitively, prescriptively, or otherwise." Thus, he expands akrasia to include cases in which the agent seeks to fulfill desires, for example, but end up denying themselves the pleasure they have deemed most choice-worthy.
207:
were somehow swerved off their "desired" tracks. Indeed, Davidson expands akrasia to include any judgment that is reached but not fulfilled, whether it be as a result of an opinion, a real or imagined good, or a moral belief. "he puzzle I shall discuss depends only on the attitude or belief of the
180:
a state where an agent has power over their desires. Aristotle considered one could be in a state of akrasia with respect to money or temper or glory, but that its core relation was to bodily enjoyment. Its causes could be weakness of will, or an impetuous refusal to think. At the same time he did
169:. Since opinion is formulated mentally in a way that may or may not imitate truth, while appetites are merely desires of the body, opinion is only incidentally aligned with or opposed to the good, making an akratic action the product of opinion instead of reason. For Aristotle, the opposite of
241:
process. She enumerates four types of akrasia: akrasia of direction or aim, of interpretation, of irrationality, and of character. She separates the practical reasoning process into four steps, showing the breakdown that may occur between each step and how each constitutes an akratic state.
229:
Davidson solves the problem by saying that, when people act in this way they temporarily believe that the worse course of action is better because they have not made an all-things-considered judgment but only a judgment based on a subset of possible considerations.
287:
that taking revenge upon a murderer is not the best course of action but makes the resolution to take revenge anyway and sticks to that resolution. According to Holton, Sarah behaves akratically but does not show weakness of will.
303:, incontinence is the sin punished in the second through fifth circles. The mutual incontinence of lust was for Dante the lightest of the deadly sins, even if its lack of self-control would open the road to deeper layers of Hell.
354:
A peak of such acrasia was perhaps reached in the 1960s cult of letting it all hang out – of breakdown, acting out and emotional self-indulgence and drama. Partly in reaction, the proponents of
501:
165:
to a more empirical approach to the question. He distanced himself from the
Socratic position by arguing that akrasia occurs as a result of an agent's opinion, not of their
283:
too easily. Under this view, it is possible to act against one's better judgment (that is, be akratic), but without being weak-willed. Suppose, for example, Sarah
203:(1917–2003) attempted to answer the question by first criticizing earlier thinkers who wanted to limit the scope of akrasia to agents who despite having reached a
858:
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100:) is a lack of mental strength or willpower, or the tendency to act against one's better judgment. It is sometimes translated into English as
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237:(1980) has tackled the problem by distilling out akrasia's many forms. She contends that akrasia is manifested in different stages of the
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257:, which might make it possible to believe that one should do A rather than B, but still end up wanting to do B more than A.
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not consider it a vice because it is not so much a product of moral choice but a failure to act on one's better knowledge.
759:
261:
200:
998:
362:– to his dictum that "a person is called continent or incontinent according as his reason is or is not in control".
972:
108:, a variety of philosophers have attempted to determine whether or not akrasia exists and how best to define it.
312:, representing the incontinence of lust, followed in the next canto by a study of that of anger; and as late as
83:
31:
491:, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1967., accessed on 1 September 2024
537:
335:
wrote that "those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained". Encouraged by
192:; he considered it a matter of everyday experience that men incontinently choose lesser over greater goods.
598:
502:"Akrasia and the divided will: The crisis of moral choice and the goal of human existence - 3 Quarks Daily"
331:, however, the incontinent choice of feeling over reason became increasingly valorised in Western culture.
382:
355:
351:
is accepted – consciously or unconsciously, in theory or in practice – as a substitute for creativeness".
265:
204:
811:
Hookway, C. (2001). "Epistemic
Akrasia and Epistemic Virtue". In Fairweather, A.; Zagzebski, L. (eds.).
407:
336:
130:
983:
166:
268:, which causes us to make different judgements close to a reward than we will when further from it.
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624:. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 178.
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238:
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which can conflict with each other. Throughout the ages, many have identified a conflict between
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185:
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542:. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University – via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
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If an agent wants to do A more than B, then they will do A rather than B if they only do one.
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one judges action A to be the best course of action, why would one do anything other than A?
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188:, incontinence was not so much a problem of knowledge (knowing but not acting) but of the
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847:(Thesis/Dissertation ed.). University of Illinois at Chicago. pp. 85–90.
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536:
Kraut, Richard (14 July 2017). "Aristotle's Ethics". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.).
328:
317:
313:
280:
161:, acknowledging that we intuitively believe in akrasia, devoted book VII of the
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If an agent believes A to be better than B, then they want to do A more than B.
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Davidson sees the problem as one of reconciling the following apparently
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containing links to papers on conscious will and on thought suppression.
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argues that akrasia results from the empirically verified phenomenon of
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17:
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would look back to
Aristotle in the search for impulse control and
815:
Virtue
Epistemology: Essays on Epistemic Virtue and Responsibility
115:
105:
88:, "lacking command" or "weakness", occasionally transliterated as
279:(1999), argues that weakness of the will involves revising one's
594:
896:(Fall ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
439:"How to Study Effectively: 8 Advanced Tips - College Info Geek"
81:
104:("a want of continence or self-restraint"). Beginning with
69:
66:
60:
48:
956:, 2007: An interactive computer model of akrasia based on
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Diseases of the Will: Alcohol and the
Dilemmas of Freedom
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Another explanation is that there are different forms of
979:
Aristotle: Ethics and the
Virtues (Weakness of the Will)
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Housing Policy and Common Sense: An
Inquiry and a Method
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would be treated as a form of (spiritual) incontinence.
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Sometimes an agent acts against their better judgment.
798:
Practical Reason, Aristotle, and the
Weakness of Will
63:
54:
124:, Plato has Socrates examine the concept of akrasia.
57:
306:Akrasia appeared later as a character in Spenser's
51:
902:
762:(1980) . "How is Weakness of the Will Possible?".
620:Durling, Robert M.; Martinez, Ronald L. (1996).
155:of facts or knowledge of what is best or good.
30:"Acrasia" redirects here. For other uses, see
800:. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
8:
819:. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.
770:. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.
857:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
909:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
138:asks precisely how it is possible that,
984:Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII
962:(5th ed.). Boston: Addison Wesley.
894:The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
539:The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
429:
120:Portrait in marble of Socrates. In the
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347:(ακρατεια)...a state of mind in which
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7:
807:. New Haven: Yale University Press.
1024:Disorders of diminished motivation
954:The Wolfram Demonstrations Project
601:from the original on 27 April 2009
388:Disorders of diminished motivation
233:Another contemporary philosopher,
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805:Mind and Imagination in Aristotle
437:Frank, Thomas (22 January 2015).
44:
926:The Illusion of Conscious Will
296:In the structural division of
1:
958:Cooter, R.; Ulen, T. (2007).
892:. In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.).
766:Essays on Actions and Events
736:(1996) pp. 80–83 and p. xiv
710:(1939) v5 p. 377 and p. 399
581:Thinking Through Technology
339:, there was a rise of what
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526:(1976) pp. 142, 66, and 89
487:, volume 3, translated by
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29:
522:J. A. K. Thompson trans,
967:Akrasia and Self-Binding
928:. Cambridge: MIT Press.
873:. Cambridge: MIT Press.
691:Quoted in M. H. Abrams,
682:Mitcham, pp. 265–66
570:Thompson, pp. 244–6
552:Thompson, pp. 235–9
32:Acrasia (disambiguation)
1009:Greek words and phrases
838:Schorsch, A.J. (1992).
693:The Mirror and the Lamp
524:The Ethics of Aristotle
485:Plato in Twelve Volumes
196:Contemporary approaches
888:Stroud, Sarah (2008).
734:Emotional Intelligence
383:Categorical imperative
356:emotional intelligence
343:would describe as "an
266:hyperbolic discounting
125:
952:by Seth J. Chandler,
924:Wegner, D.M. (2002).
901:Valverde, M. (1998).
871:Rationality in Action
723:(2009) pp. 120–1
644:Dante, pp. 101–2
583:(1994) pp. 263–4
408:Higher-order volition
360:delayed gratification
119:
973:Daniel Wegner's site
327:With the triumph of
27:Lack of self-control
704:Arnold J. Toynbee,
398:Executive functions
320:of such figures as
239:practical reasoning
999:Concepts in ethics
890:"Weakness of Will"
707:A Study of History
213:inconsistent triad
186:Augustine of Hippo
163:Nicomachean Ethics
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960:Law and Economics
935:978-0-262-23222-7
916:978-0-521-62300-1
880:978-0-262-19463-1
830:978-0-19-514077-4
796:Dahl, N.O. 1984.
781:978-0-19-924626-7
593:Ainslie, George.
467:dictionary.com –
341:Arnold J. Toynbee
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314:Jane Austen
281:resolutions
128:In Plato's
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993:Categories
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247:motivation
134:dialogue,
131:Protagoras
122:Protagoras
1019:Reasoning
1004:Free will
950:"Akrasia"
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176:enkrateia
159:Aristotle
869:(2001).
605:27 March
599:Archived
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447:Archived
366:See also
337:Rousseau
298:Dante's
153:ignorant
136:Socrates
622:Inferno
479:Plato,
443:YouTube
373:Aboulia
345:abandon
300:Inferno
255:emotion
171:akrasia
112:History
90:acrasia
84:ἀκρασία
40:Akrasia
18:Acrasia
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823:–199.
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378:Acedia
292:Legacy
285:judges
251:reason
167:desire
98:acracy
94:acrasy
845:(PDF)
774:–42.
425:Notes
333:Blake
106:Plato
79:Greek
930:ISBN
911:ISBN
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859:link
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626:ISBN
607:2009
510:2024
455:2020
316:the
253:and
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184:For
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