Abstract

This article aims to explore a sapiential response to the question of the inner experience of the conflict between the voluntary and the involuntary, which Ricœur alludes to in the first volume of his _Philosophy of the Will_. I take as my starting point Ricœur’s reference in the conclusion to the three pieces of advice given by Descartes to achieve contentment, which Ricœur equates with the virtues of decision, effort and consent. Building on Ricœur’s assertion that we receive the life of the involuntary into the heart of freedom through attention, I seek to explore how attention can help reconcile the conflicting relationship between the voluntary and the involuntary in everyday experience. I do so by proposing a rereading of these three virtues in the light of the practical mediation of attention.