Rozwój pojęcia woli w pogańskiej filozofii starożytnej – Sokrates, Platon, Arystoteles
The Development of the Notion of Will in the Pagan Ancient Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to present and analyze the development of the notion of the will in the pagan ancient philosophy. In the context of the views of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the Author presents a lot of Greek intuitions concerning the psychology of moral acts and human action. Firstly, the article examines the doctrine of ethical intellectualism, attributed to Socrates, according to which the cognitive elements are the main motives of our actions. So, it is difficult to find the notion of the will in Socratic anthropology. Secondly, the article gives the interpretation of Platonic anthropology according to which the thymos is the sphere that we can name as “proto-will.” At last, the Author shows how difficult is to find the will in Aristotelian ethics and anthropology despite the fact that Aristotle explicated very closely the relations among beliefs, desires, and the action. Neither proairesis, nor boulēsis can play the role of the will, especially when the will should be something like the power that desires things, makes decisions, and is self-deremined.

• Details
• Contents