Single Idea 23316

[catalogued under 20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / a. Will to Act]

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.

Gist of Idea

For Plato and Aristotle there is no will; there is only rational desire for what is seen as good

Source

report of Plato (The Republic [c.371 BCE], 577e) by Michael Frede - A Free Will 1

Book Reference

Frede,Michael: 'A Free Will' [Univ of California 2011], p.20


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'.