Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Anaxarchus, Thomas Hobbes and Anjan Chakravarrty

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3 ideas

20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 1. Acting on Desires
The will is just the last appetite before action [Hobbes]
     Full Idea: In deliberation, the last appetite or aversion immediately adhering to the action, or to the omission thereof, is that we call the Will.
     From: Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651], 1.06)
     A reaction: I share his caution about 'the will', but his observation strikes me as inaccurate. When I drink, my 'will' is not my thirst. I take the will to be a feature of my reason. I gave my thirst permission to indulge itself. The will is practical reason?
It is an error that reason should control the passions, which give right guidance on their own [Hobbes, by Tuck]
     Full Idea: Hobbes (and Descartes, and many contemporaries) argued that the traditional idea that reason should control the passions was an error, and that (properly understood) our emotions would guide us in the right direction.
     From: report of Thomas Hobbes (The Elements of Law [1640]) by Richard Tuck - Hobbes Ch.2
     A reaction: I'm an intellectualist on this one. It strikes me as rather naïve and romantic to think that unthinking emotion could ever consistently approach what is right. A recipe for disaster.
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / a. Practical reason
Reason is usually general, but deliberation is of particulars [Hobbes]
     Full Idea: Reasoning is in general words, but deliberation for the most part is of particulars.
     From: Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651], 1.06)