Study Guide

The Nicomachean Ethics Book 7, Chapter 3 (1146b8-1148b14)

By Aristotle

Book 7, Chapter 3 (1146b8-1148b14)

What level of awareness do those who act without self-restraint have? Do they make a conscious decision to act this way?
Other talking points for this chapter: are the steadfast and self-restrained the same person? Does self-restraint apply to all pleasures…or just to certain ones?
Aristotle says that a person lacking self-restraint generally meddles in the same things that a licentious person does (i.e. bodily pleasures).
But unlike the licentious person, the person lacking self-restraint (let's call this "LSR") chooses pleasure even though he thinks he shouldn't be chasing it.
It comes down to being a "knower." It is possible that a person LSR has the right learning to know that what he's doing is wrong, but he's simply ignoring it.
Sometimes, a person LSR does have knowledge and does have this actively in mind but still behaves in a way he shouldn't.
Aristotle calls this "a terrible thing."
There is also the difficulty of the universal and the particular. Perhaps a person LSR has general knowledge but fails to apply it correctly to the particular situation.
Aristotle says that humans also "have" knowledge in different ways.
So while we might possess understanding, all bets are off when we are in an altered state: drunk, asleep, insane.
He displays a pretty shocking depth of understanding about how changes in our mind can affect our bodies (i.e. how passions can bring about madness/irrational behavior).
Aristotle likens people LSR to those whose minds/bodies are in this altered state. They might still be able to display knowledge but not fully understand the implications of it.
Even our reason and knowledge can be placed in the service of a lack of self-restraint.
We may know that too many doughnuts are bad for us, but we may also have a competing opinion that says we should always have doughnuts when they're available.
If our desire or longing is to indulge ourselves, it agrees with the opinion that indulgence is good and voila: diabetes.
But how to make such an "ignorant" person back into a "knower" (someone who grasps the limits in both a universal and particular sense)?
It's a poser of a question, because the person LSR has a perception problem: he knows what is good for him, but he can't see how to put that knowledge into action.

The Nicomachean Ethics Book 7, Chapter 3 (1146b8-1148b14)

By Aristotle

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