Single Idea 67

[catalogued under 20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / b. Intellectualism]

Full Idea

Every bad man is ignorant of what he ought to do and refrain from doing.

Gist of Idea

Bad people are just ignorant of what they ought to do

Source

Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1110b29)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.113


A Reaction

This sounds more like the view on akrasia of Socrates than that of Aristotle. Aristotle thinks bad people can also know what is good, but be pulled away from it by strong desires.