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3 ideas
2362 | 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? |
2363 | 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) |
20869 | The highest degree of morality performs all that is appropriate, omitting nothing [Chrysippus] |
Full Idea: He who makes moral progress to the highest degree performs all the appropriate actions in all circumstances, and omits none. | |
From: Chrysippus (fragments/reports [c.240 BCE]), quoted by Sophocles - Sophocles' Electra 4.39.22 | |
A reaction: Hence concerns about omission as well as commission in the practice of ethics can be seen in the light of character and virtue. The world is fully of nice people who act well, but don't do so well on omissions. Car drivers, for example. |