’Aκρασία and desire

Authors

  • Timothy Hynes St. John’s Seminary, Brighton, MA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15633/lie.1914

Keywords:

Ἀκρασία, desire, practical syllogism, socratic intellectualism, backsliding

Abstract

Although he does not use the phrase, in Book VII of the Nicomachean ethics, Aristotle contends with the philosophical problem of socratic intellectualism, attempting to unwind the apparent paradox of the ἀκρατής, the man who knows what he ought to do and who fails to do it. As part of this project, he examines the mechanism of the practical syllogism, knowledge in terms of potency and act, as well as ignorance and knowledge. In this essay, I will briefly review Aristotles’ endeavor, emphasizing the role of desire in the practical syllogism. By taking apart the example syllogism he uses, I will argue that desire plays a fundamental role in the deliberative process and functions as a kind of implicit universal premise. In doing so, I will show the interaction between reason and desire and the way in which the latter plays a pivotal part in the conclusion of the practical syllogism. Finally, insofar as desire can be understood as one of the premises of the syllogism and thus a kind of ‘knowledge,’ I will conclude by arguing that moral development consists in reason determining the proper mean for each of the virtues, and that it has an important role in cultivating the emotions, ordering them to the principles of practical wisdom.

Author Biography

  • Timothy Hynes, St. John’s Seminary, Brighton, MA
    Timothy Hynes is a seminarian studying for the Archdiocese of Boston. He holds bachelor of arts degrees in philosophy and computer science from Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. Prior to entering seminary he spent time working as a software engineer, punctuated by a short two year hiatus as a Catholic missionary in Lima, Perú with the French ecclesial movement Points-Cœur. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in philosophy from Boston College in addition to master’s degrees of divinity & theology at St. John’s Seminary in Boston, Massachusetts.

References

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Published

2017-01-01

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 2 (2016)

Section

Articles

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