The AskPhilosophers logo.

Freedom

How is it that I know how important an event is yet I cannot bring myself to do it even though I really want to.
Accepted:
October 16, 2005

Comments

Peter Lipton
October 16, 2005 (changed October 16, 2005) Permalink

This is the ancient and excellent question of how weakness of the will is possible. Alas it seems all too common that we don't do B, which is what we most want to do, because something less important to us -- our desire for A -- gets in the way. On the other hand, if we freely choose to do A rather than B, doesn't that show that we really did want A more after all? Maybe the answer is that we did want A more, but we also wish we wanted B more. But that doesn't account for the feeling that we do sometimes really choose what we want less.

  • Log in to post comments
Source URL: https://askphilosophers.org/question/240
© 2005-2025 AskPhilosophers.org