On Akrasia
Our ability to want things, sometimes, can be overwhelming. Some may point to addiction or obsession when confronting our talking about desire. Its pull is like a magnet upon a piece of steel or iron. Simply put, we, in these certain situations, cannot act otherwise. But what about the converse? Perhaps that isn’t mentioned enough or even talked about at all. The paralysis of desire can be much more debilitating and consequential than its more popular counterpart. Akrasia literally means “weakness of will” in Greek. In larger part, it represents a school of thought in philosophy that deals with autonomy. Notoriously undervalued questions like: are we free; is fatalism true; and is agency possible with the existence of God, dominate these conversations. That said, I’d like to focus on the psychological conditions at play when it comes to freedom of the will and that abominable weakness that each and every person deals with on a daily basis. Will, in large part, is our ability ...