Where Does the Cetanic Break Take Place? Weakness of Will in Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra

Comparative Philosophy 7 (2) (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This article explores the role of weakness of will in the Indian Buddhist tradition, and in particular within Śāntideva’s Introduction to the Practice of Awakening. In agreement with Jay Garfield, I argue that there are important differences between Aristotle’s account of akrasia and Buddhist moral psychology. Nevertheless, taking a more expanded conception of weakness of will, as is frequently done in contemporary work, allows us to draw significant connections with the pluralistic account of psychological conflict found in Buddhist texts. I demonstrate this by showing how Amélie Rorty’s expanded treatment of akrasia as including emotional response and perceptual classification allows us to recognize that one of the purposes of many of Śāntideva’s meditations is to treat various forms of akratic response.

Similar books and articles

The Metaphysical Basis of Śāntideva's Ethics.Amod Lele - 2015 - Journal of Buddhist Ethics 22:249-283.
Bile & Bodhisattvas: Śāntideva on Justified Anger.Nicolas Bommarito - 2011 - Journal of Buddhist Ethics 18:357-81.
Weakness of Will.Christine Tappolet - 2022 - In Hugh LaFollette (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Wiley. pp. 4412-21.
Addiction and Weakness of Will.Lubomira Radoilska - 2013 - Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-07-09

Downloads
449 (#39,163)

6 months
42 (#82,128)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Stephen E. Harris
Leiden University

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Intention and Weakness of Will.Richard Holton - 1999 - Journal of Philosophy 96 (5):241.
Protagoras.James Plato & Adela Marion Adam - 1935 - [Jerusalem]: Ḥevrah le-hotsaʼat sefarim ʻal yad ha-Universiṭah ha-ʻIvrit. Edited by Leon Simon.
Weakness of will.Sarah Stroud - 2012 - In Peter Adamson (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Where does the akratic break take place?Amelie Oksenberg Rorty - 1980 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 58 (4):333 – 346.

View all 13 references / Add more references