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Single Idea 24324

[catalogued under 20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 1. Acting on Desires]

Full Idea

The non-rational feelings seem to be no less human [than reason], so that actions resulting from spirit and appetite are no less the actions of human beings. It would be strange, then to count them as involuntary.

Gist of Idea

Actions produced by feeling are just as human as rational actions, so they can be voluntary

Source

Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1111b01)

A Reaction

If they are voluntary then we are evidently responsible for them, but that would only apply if we could control the actions, so these acts can't be merely the product of feeling. ...I suppose we might have trained our feelings to be habitually good.

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Nicomachean Ethics', ed/tr. Reeve, C.D.C. [Hackett 2024], p.38

Related Idea

Idea 24320 Involuntary actions arise from force or ignorance, with the agent contributing nothing [Aristotle]