Concept
Akrasia
Overview
Akrasia refers to the phenomenon of acting against one's better judgment—the state in which one intentionally performs an action while simultaneously believing that a different course of action would be better. Sometimes translated as "weakness of will" or "incontinence," akrasia describes the paradoxical human experience of knowingly choosing what one judges to be the inferior option.
The concept of akrasia raises philosophical questions regarding the connection between reason, desire, and action by challenging the intuitive assumption that rational judgment governs an agent's behavior. For example, there can be an instance of akrasia when (i) an agent is aware of what they should do (ii) they choose to do something else, and (iii) it is appropriate to say that the agent does this other thing because of some impulse or emotion.Altogether, akrasia is presented as one of many significant problems in moral psychology and ethics.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
Sovereignty, for the same reason as makes it inalienable, is indivisible; for will either is, or is not, general;[1] it is the will either of the body of the people, or only of a part of it. In the first case, the will, when declared, is an act of Sovereignty and constitutes law: in the second, it is merely a particular will, or act of magistracy--at the most a decree. But our political theorists, unable to divide…
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The social contract & discourses
The author is tied to Akrasia in the knowledge graph.
13. Wherever thought is wholly wanting, or the power to act or forbear according to the direction of thought, there necessity takes place. This, in an agent capable of volition, when the beginning or continuation of any action is contrary to that preference of his mind, is called compulsion; when the hindering or stopping any action is contrary to his volition, it is called restraint. Agents that have no thought, no…
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1
States what Akrasia is.
But as a matter of fact, the empire which it holds over consciences is due much less to the physical supremacy of which it has the privilege than to the moral authority with which it is invested. If we yield to its orders, it is not merely because it is strong enough to triumph over our resistance; it is primarily because it is the object of a venerable respect. We say that an object, whether individual or…
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
States what Akrasia is.
Philosophers who discussed Akrasia
Related ideas
- Emotion
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Augustine of Hippo
- Motivation
- Rational choice model
- Socrates
- Romanticism
- Sensibility
- Sin
- Donald Davidson (philosopher)
- Cognitivism (ethics)
- Reason
- Protagoras (dialogue)
- Nicomachean Ethics
- Arnold J. Toynbee
- Will (philosophy)
- Enkrateia
Place in the tradition
Part of Philosophy of mind.