This understanding of weakness of will changes the subject in two ways. Mele find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. It is whether you are abandoning an intention you previously formed. Weakness of will as the untutored understand it is not akrasia if we reserve that term for action contrary to ones better judgment, but rather a certain kind of failure to stick to ones plans. Akrasia and accidie are traditionally recognized as tow of the clearest cases of practical. Christians must not neglect a backslide christian passage. Keywords akrasia intention judgment weakness of will philosophical work on weakness of will in. Bible arena paul asked christians to restore a backslide fellow 2 corinthians. Weakness of will notes stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Much of backsliding is therefore devoted to the claim that weakwilled actions are free. His explanation of akrasia is simply that pathos is sometimes a stronger.
The first main item of business is to clarify the nature of backsliding of actions that display some weakness of will. Pdf weakness of will and akrasia alfred mele academia. The aim of this book is to explain why that happens. Aristotles ethics alternate readings of aristotle on akrasia. They freely do things they believe it would be best on the whole not to do and best from their own point of view, not just the perspective of their peers or their parents. Mele draws on work in social and developmental psychology and in psychiatry to motivate a view of human behavior in which. That is, we are not to understand pf judgments as having the form of a. Support the sep pdfs for sep friends make a donation sepia for libraries. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext.
It is not surprising that weakness of will has such a long and distinguished. Understanding weakness of will reprint by alfred r. Backsliding understanding weakness of will pdf archives. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Since i find the approach obvious, this calls for some explanation. A dialogue on free will and science 9780199329298 by mele, alfred r. See jackson 1984 for a different revisionist understanding of weakness of will which also. Pauls understanding of the christian ministry in 2 corinthians society for new testament studies monograph series series by timothy b. Keywords akrasia 4 weakness of will 4 intention 4 resolution 4.
Akratic comes from the greek akrasia, lack of selfcontrol. Oup usa 2012 authors alfred mele florida state university abstract people backslide. It is agreed that not all weakness of will is akrasia. Notice, however, that there is an interesting question which might be the subject of philosophical investigation even if we drop, or leave open, the claim that weakwilled actions. He argues that backsliding is no illusion and our theories about the springs of action, the power of evaluative judgments, human agency, human rationality, practical reasoning, and motivation should accommodate backsliding. What would it mean to understand the phenomenon of backsliding. In context, that appears to be a remark about the form of akrasia aristotle calls. That question is not addressed by mele, but a neighbouring question is, a question that uncovers meles engineering conception of philosophy. Yet if akrasia is to be distinguished from fickleness, and indifference, and halfheartedness, it may be that it must always involve weakness of will. And, worst of all, it doesnt add anything to our understanding of the topic.
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