Why does the mother with a devoted husband and children, who readily admits her alcoholism is ruining her health and family, continue to drink?
How can an intelligent attorney suddenly binge on cocaine for days, wreaking havoc on his practice and relationships?
Aristotle's explanation is that such people are incontinent of will
he platonically influenced Augustine taught that the will is only truly free when it chooses the good for which it is intended.
For such thinkers, true freedom of the will involves liberation from the tyranny of base desires and acquisition of desires for the Good.
"Mary" who purchased the alcohol, kept working enough to pay for it, drove the car while intoxicated, and so on. But in a real psychological sense, Mary no longer could choose outside the confines of the alcoholic existence: the sphere of her will was constricted by the perpetuation of her addiction neurobiology and cognitive psychology have both partially illuminated iTHIS
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