University of Tabriz
Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC)
Azargin, A., Tavakoli, G. (2015). Akrasia according to Socrates and Aristotle. , 9(16), 1-22.
Arvin Azargin; Gholamhossein Tavakoli. "Akrasia according to Socrates and Aristotle". , 9, 16, 2015, 1-22.
Azargin, A., Tavakoli, G. (2015). 'Akrasia according to Socrates and Aristotle', , 9(16), pp. 1-22.
Azargin, A., Tavakoli, G. Akrasia according to Socrates and Aristotle. , 2015; 9(16): 1-22.

Akrasia according to Socrates and Aristotle

مجله پژوهش های فلسفی
Article 1, Volume 9, Issue 16, May 2015, Pages 1-22    PDF (666.84 K)
Document Type: Research Paper
Authors
Arvin Azargin* 1; Gholamhossein Tavakoli2
1PhD Candidate of Philosophy, University of Isfahan
2Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Isfahan
Abstract
When an agent acts contrary to his, all-things-considered, best judgment while he is able to do the best he acts akratically. Socrates for the first time posed the problem. He believed that akrasia is impossible since nobody can act wrong intentionally or waiver the best. But it sometimes seems that people commit evil intentionally; the reason, according to Socrates, is that they count the action in question as good due to their ignorance. Equating the good and pleasant, Socrates declares that the claim that "reason is sometimes overcame by passion" is baseless. Socrates knows nothing more powerful than knowledge. But Aristotle is known to be a defender of possibility of akrasia. He distinguishes between actualized and suspended knowledge. Agent with suspended knowledge may know related universals but particulars, or he may know both, but his knowledge is superficial like an asleep, insane or a drunken man. It is only the suspended knowledge that might be acted contrary to. It is not comprehensible that an agent equipped with actualized knowledge slips. This paper tries to show that, despite the opinion of some scholars, Aristotle's standpoint is very close to that of Socrates.
Keywords
Socrates; Aristotle; Akrasia; weakness of will; incontinence; good; pleasure
References
  • Aristotle, (1905), De Anima, translated: R. D. HICKS, M.A., Cambridge University Press.
  • Aristotle, (1935), The Athenian Constitution, The Eudemian Ethics, on Virtues and Vices, translated: H. Rackham, M.A., Harvard University Press.
  • Davidson, D. (1970), “How Is Weakness of the Will Possible?” in: Davidson D. Essays on Actions and Events, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 21-42.
  • Davidson, D. (1982), “Paradoxes of Irrationality”, in: Davidson D., Problems of Rationality Oxford: Clarendon Press, 169-187.
  • Gosling, Justin, (1990), Weakness of the will, London: Routledge.
  • Heckhausen, Jutta & Heinz, (2008), Motivation and Action, New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Henry, Devin, (2002), "Aristotle on pleasure and the worst form of Akrasia", in: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 5(3), 255-270.
  • Holton, R, (2009), Willing Wanting Waiting, London: Oxford.
  • Kalis, Mojzisch, Schweizer, Kaiser (2008), "Weakness of will, akrasia, and the neuropsychiatry of decision making: An interdisciplinary perspective", in: Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 8 (4), 402-417.
  • Mele, Alfred, (2009), "Weakness of will and akrasia", in: Philosophical Studies 150 (3), 391–404.
  • Peijnenburg, Jeanne, (1996), Acting against One’s Best Judgement: An Enquiry into Practical Reasoning, Dispositions and Weakness of Will, PhD. Thesis Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (Netherlands).
  • Rorty, A.O. (1980), "Akrasia and Pleasure", in: Rorty, A.O., Essays on Aristotle’s Ethics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 267-284.
  • Saarinen, Risto, (2011), Weakness of Will in Renaissance and Reformation Thought, New York: Oxford.
  • Wallace, R. Jay, (1999), "Addiction as the defect of the will: some philosophical reflections", in: Law and Philosophy 18 (6), 621–654
Statistics
Article View: 1,549
PDF Download: 339


Journal Management System. Powered by Sinaweb