Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Plato, Lynch,MP/Glasgow,JM and Paul Benacerraf

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2 ideas

20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 1. Intention to Act / b. Types of intention
135 All activity aims at the good [Plato]
     Full Idea: All activity aims at the good.
     From: Plato (Gorgias [c.387 BCE], 499e)
     A reaction: He includes non-conscious activity, so this is the 'teleological' view of nature, which seems a bit optimistic to the modern mind.
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / a. Will to Act
23316 For Plato and Aristotle there is no will; there is only rational desire for what is seen as good [Plato, by Frede,M]
     Full Idea: Neither Plato nor Aristotle has a notion of the will. …Willing is a form of desire which is specific to reason. If reason perceives something as good, it wills or desires it.
     From: report of Plato (The Republic [c.374 BCE], 577e) by Michael Frede - A Free Will 1
     A reaction: [Frede cites 577e, Aris. 413c8, 1113a15-, 1136b6] How do they explain the apparent decisions of non-rational animals? No modern neuroscientist thinks there is a physical object called a person's 'will'.