Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Akrasia (acting against one's better judgment) is possible because some parts of the soul are indifferent to the good and can motivate actions that do not aim at what is good.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Socrates argued that all wrongdoing is ignorance: the akratic agent misidentifies a lesser good as a greater one at the moment of action.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If appetite merely tracks a perceived good rather than being indifferent to goodness, the Platonic partition thesis overstates the soul's division.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Akrasia then requires no soul-part indifferent to the good, only a cognitive failure in comparative evaluation under the influence of pleasure.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Aristotle's own account in NE VII holds that the akratic person's universal practical knowledge is not actively operative at the moment of acting.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.A temporarily suppressed or occluded rational judgment is not equivalent to motivation by a faculty indifferent to the good.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Therefore akrasia can be explained by the weakness or non-activation of reason itself, without positing soul-parts that are constitutively indifferent to goodness.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.The soul has multiple parts, some of which (appetite) pursue their objects without reference to whether those objects are good.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Reason pursues its objects always understanding them as good.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.A part of the soul that is indifferent to the good can motivate action independently of reason's judgment.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.