Free Will in the Nicomachean Ethics

Abstract

Contained in the initial chapters of Book 3 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is one of the most complete accounts of the difference between voluntary and involuntary action in all of ancient philosophy. Ultimately, Aristotle agrees with Plato that wrong action can be attributed to a failure in education, and that free will, understood as the deliberate choosing of good or bad action, does not exist. This conclusion, however, is not made explicitly, which is why this paper relies on a close reading of Chapters 1-5 of Book 3 to unearth Aristotle's final account of the differences between voluntary, involuntary, and non-voluntary action.