Understanding Weakness of Will

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven

Why do you do things you know you shouldn’t?

The ancient term for doing what you knew wasn’t best for was akrasia or weakness of will. Plato and Aristotle believed in it. The Stoics did not. What this means and why it matters for us today is the subject of this episode.

(01:04) What is Weakness of Will

(11:54) Plato on Weakness of Will

(22:22) Aristotle

(28:44) The Stoics

(36:31) The Early Stoic Solution

(41:27) Epictetus and Weak Beliefs

(49:14) Nonreflective Judgments

(53:18) Practical Upshot

***

Subscribe to The Stoa Letter for weekly meditations, actions, and links to the best Stoic resources: www.stoaletter.com/subscribe

Download the Stoa app (it’s a free download): stoameditation.com/pod

Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/

Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/