PHL225 Chapter 2: PHL225 Wk2 Reading 1
9 May 2018
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(i) Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book III.
Voluntary and involuntary
• Virtue/excellence concerned with emotions and actions
o Voluntary: receive praise or blame
o Involuntary: pardoned and pitied
• In an involuntary act, the agent or person acted upon contributes nothing
• How does life and death play into what is voluntary/involuntary?
• The terms 'voluntary' and 'involuntary' are to be used with reference to the moment of action
• In instances where the source of motion comes from within oneself, and it is in one's power to
act or not to act, the action is voluntary.
• Praise or blame depends on whether or not a man successfully resists compulsion
• What kinds of actions are done under constraint, if not a life or death situation?
o Cause is external and agent contributes nothing
o How do you define what is voluntary?
• Are pleasant and noble acts performed under constraint, as the reward of such acts are
compelling, and therefore have a power over the agent?
• An act is done under constraint when there is no initiative or source of emotion for doing the
act, and when the person compelled contributes nothing.
• Acts done out of ignorance are non-voluntary, but are only involuntary if the act brings sorrow
and regret
• What about when someone is intoxicated?
• What about the wicked man, who is ignorant to all he does?
• Ignorance in moral choice does not make an act involuntary, rather it makes it wicked
• Types of ignorance
o Who the agent is
o What they are doing
o What thing or person is affected
o The means/tools used to achieve the act
o The result intended by one's action
o The manner with which the act is carried out
• An action is involuntary if it is performed through constraint of ignorance
• We think involuntary = painful and voluntary = pleasant
• Which is worse: calculated crime or crime of passion?
Choice
• Choice and voluntariness are different
o E.g. children can act voluntarily but not out of choice
• Choice = rational being
• Appetite and choice can oppose one another
• Choice is limited by reality and what is possible to attain through our own agency
• Opinion vs choice?
• Is choice voluntary or could it be the result of deliberation?
Deliberation
• Is this constantly occurring? Is everything the result of deliberation?
• We deliberate about things that are within the capabilities of our own agency
• Deliberation is not a science and is not confined to one set answer, rather it is unique to the
individual who deliberates and interprets
• We deliberate about the means to attain ends
• The object of deliberation and choice is identical, however the object of choice is determined
upon the basis of deliberation.
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