Record Details

Sculpting Character: Aristotle's Voluntary as Affectability

Labyrinth

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Field Value
 
Title Sculpting Character: Aristotle's Voluntary as Affectability
 
Creator Anton, Audrey L.
 
Subject Philosophy
Aristotle, voluntary, involuntary, character, eph' hēmin, praise, blame
 
Description I argue that the two criteria traditionally identified as jointly sufficient for voluntary behavior according to Aristotle require qualification. Without such qualification, they admit troubling exceptions (i.e., they are not sufficient). Through minding these difficult examples, I conclude that a third condition mentioned by Aristotle – the eph' hēmin – is key to qualifying the original two criteria. What is eph' hēmin is that which is efficiently caused by appetite and teleologically caused by reason such that the agent could have, in theory, acted differently. I propose that praise and blame are justified only when 1: the behavior is voluntary and 2: the agent is susceptible (at least in principle) to the positive influences of appropriate praise and blame to help form, improve, or strengthen a good character. Through concentrating on the agent's affectability in morally salient situations, we may better understand the qualified criteria's role in voluntary human behavior in general.
 
Publisher Axia Academic Publishers
 
Contributor —
 
Date 2016-12-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Peer-reviewed Article
Philosophic-Historical Approach
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://www.axiapublishers.com/ojs/index.php/labyrinth/article/view/48
10.25180/lj.v18i2.48
 
Source Labyrinth; Vol 18, No 2 (2016): Praxis, Virtues, and Values: The Legacies of Aristotle; 75-103
1561-8927
2410-4817
10.25180/lj.v18i2
 
Language eng
 
Relation http://www.axiapublishers.com/ojs/index.php/labyrinth/article/view/48/51
urn:nbn:de:101:1-201706098392
 
Coverage Greek Philosophy
Ancient Philosophy
Continental Philosophy
 
Rights Copyright (c) 2016 Audrey L. Anton
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0