Some dispositions are human and natural, others are brutal, and others are caused by injury or disease. Incontinence with regard to desire is worse than incontinence with regard to temper, since desire does not follow reason while temper does. Incontinence in an unqualified way is that which parallels human intemperance. But those who are incontinent with respect to bodily enjoyments are incontinent in the unqualified sense. Is anyone incontinent without qualification or are people incontinent with respect to specific things? Those who are incontinent by excessively seeking victory, wealth, honor, or other such things are only incontinent with respect to those things. In an incontinent man the desire, not the knowledge of what is right, is contrary to right reason. Those under the influence of their passions are somewhat like those who are mad or drunk, for they do not act according to the knowledge that they have. The difference between the incontinent man and the temperate man is that the intemperate man deliberately chooses to pursue all pleasures, while the incontinent man thinks he should not seek after pleasure but does so anyway. The incontinent man is disposed toward the objects toward which an intemperate man is disposed.
An incontinent man is worse than one who acts badly deliberately because the latter may at least be persuaded to change his mind, while the incontinent man already knows what is good but is simply not doing it because he is ruled by his passions.
#Virtues and vices list aristotle how to
Socrates thought that incontinence as it is defined here is impossible, because he thought that if one knew how to act rightly one would necessarily do so. The continent man knows that his desires are bad but does not follow them because of reason. The incontinent man is disposed to do what he knows is bad because of his passions.
To be brutal is rare, since it means to exceed so much in vice that one is hardly even human. The things which should be avoided with regard to character are vice, incontinence and brutality.
0 kommentar(er)
