Weakness of the Will

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter introduces basic conceptions and questions from the philosophical literature on weakness of the will to readers not familiar with them. It starts with a detailed explanation of core concepts (‘agent’, ‘action’, ‘judgement’, ‘intention’) as they feature in conceptual analyses of weakness of the will. The chapter then roughly characterises weakness of will as a failure by the weak-willed person’s own standards and shows how it accounts for three core features of weakness of the will: it is puzzling, it involves a conflict, and it is typically regarded as a defect.