Single Idea 5254

[catalogued under 20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / d. Weakness of will]

Full Idea

Some thinkers say that when some people are unable to resist pleasures then what they have is not knowledge but only opinion.

Gist of Idea

Some people explain akrasia by saying only opinion is present, not knowledge

Source

Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1145b33)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.228


A Reaction

You would have thought that people take their own opinions for knowledge, but Aristotle seems to refer to weakly held beliefs. Aristotle allows that this might excuse mild misbehaviour, but not true vice.