Will · Historical Perspectives on Akrasia
Akrasia — acting against one's own better judgment — traced from classical antiquity through modern analytic philosophy.
| Figure | Year(s) | Concept / Contribution Regarding Akrasia |
|---|---|---|
| Euripides | c. 480 – 406 BC | Provided one of the earliest literary expressions of this conflict in his tragedy Hippolytus. The character Phaedra laments: "We know and recognize the good, but fail to practice it." |
| Socrates | c. 470 – 399 BC | Denied that akrasia actually exists. He argued that it is impossible for a person to willingly do wrong if they truly know what is right; all wrong action is simply the result of ignorance. |
| Plato | c. 428 – 348 BC | Disagreed with Socrates. In The Republic, he divided the soul into three parts (rational, spirited, and appetitive) to explain how irrational desires and appetites can overpower rational judgment. |
| Aristotle | 384 – 322 BC | Formalized the study of akrasia in his Nicomachean Ethics. He distinguished between a weak-willed person (who knows the good but is overcome by passion) and a wicked person (who actively chooses the bad). |
| Ovid | 43 BC – AD 17/18 | Provided the famous Roman poetic formulation of the concept in Metamorphoses. His character Medea states: "I see the better road and approve it, but I follow the worse." |
| St. Paul the Apostle | c. AD 5 – 64/65 | Framed the issue within early Christian theology as a conflict of the flesh versus the spirit. In Romans 7:15, he famously wrote: "For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing." |
| St. Augustine of Hippo | AD 354 – 430 | Explored the agony of the "divided will" in his Confessions. He argued that human willpower is naturally flawed and fractured due to original sin, and can only be unified to do the good through divine grace. |
| Thomas Aquinas | 1225 – 1274 | Blended Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology. He argued that akrasia happens when strong bodily passions temporarily "blind" or distract the intellect from applying its moral knowledge to a specific action. |
| Baruch Spinoza | 1632 – 1677 | Discussed human "bondage" to the emotions in his Ethics. He argued that true, rational knowledge of good and evil isn't enough to stop bad behavior unless that knowledge is accompanied by an even stronger emotion. |
| Immanuel Kant | 1724 – 1804 | Described this issue as the "frailty" (fragilitas) of human nature. He acknowledged that humans can adopt the moral law into their principles but physically fail to execute it when faced with competing desires. |
| G. I. Gurdjieff | c. 1866 – 1949 | Maintained that humans live as mechanical "machines" lacking a unified "I" or single continuous will. Apparent akrasia occurs because one temporary "small I" sees the better road and makes a resolution, but a completely different "I" takes control of the machine a moment later. |
| Donald Davidson | 1917 – 2003 | Brought the issue back into modern analytic philosophy with his seminal 1969 paper, "How is Weakness of the Will Possible?" He argued that a person can hold a rational belief about what is best overall, yet intentionally act against it due to a failure in practical reasoning. |