Abstract

BRAVO VIVAR, Francisco. Aristotelian Theory of Responsability. Estud.filos [online]. 2006, n.34, pp.109-132. ISSN 0121-3628.

One of the main efforts of Aristotelian Ethics is the evaluation of human actions and passions. In order to be virtuous, they ought to be praiseworthy, that is to say, they must deserve the praise of the community to which the agent belongs. Now, in order to be praiseworthy, they ought to be voluntary (ἑκούσιαι) and responsible. Are the conditions of responsibility those of willfulness? I believe that for Aristotle, willfulness is only the first condition of responsibility. The other condition, as essential and explicit as the first one, is election (προαίρεσις). I then analyse the conditions of each, pointing out what the conditions of election add to the conditions of willfulness, mainly in Necomachean Ethics III, 1-5 and VI, 1-4, but also in Eudemian Ethics. Aristotle develops them while discussing the foregoing Greek Ethics, especially the Ethics of his Master.

Keywords : Willfulness; Responsibility; Force; Ignorance; Election.

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