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Headword: *proai/resis
Adler number: pi,2376
Translated headword: choice; choosing
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
Aristotle in the Topics says: when we want to show that there is no choice in the irrational we will take [sc. into account] the definition of choice; this is 'a taking before another thing';[1] furthermore, choosing one thing before another is [something one does] in those [domains] where to deliberate is possible as well. For to select[2] one thing before another occurs rationally; whereas none of the irrational [creatures] deliberates; so that it does not chose, either. 'Choice' is a deliberative desire of those things depending on us,[3] or a desiderative deliberation of those things depending on us. For I choose by aiming at what has been selected as the result of deliberation.[4] And deliberation[5] is a desire related to inquiry which is produced with regard to those things, depending on us, concerned with action.[6] For someone 'deliberates' whether he ought to go in quest of a thing, or not. Then he judges the better alternative, and judgement takes place. Then he is [sc. well] disposed and shows affection for what was judged by deliberation, and this is called "judgmental opinion".[7] But if he judges and is not [sc. well] disposed in respect of what was judged, i.e. he shows no affection for it, this is not called "judgmental opinion". Then, after the disposition, choice arises, i.e. selection.[8] For choice is [a matter] of two components: choosing and selecting this before something else. And this [is] plain, from the etymology itself: that choice is deliberation accompanied by discrimination.[9] For what is worth choosing, one thing before another, is an object of choice. No one discriminates anything, if he has not deliberated; and no one chooses, if he has not selected.
Search "choice and wish" under the entry "wish".[10]
Greek Original:
*proai/resis: *)aristote/lhs e)n toi=s *to/pois le/gei: dei=cai qe/lontes o(/ti mh/ e)stin e)n a)lo/gw| proai/resis, lhyo/meqa to\n lo/gon th=s proaire/sews: e)/sti de\ ou(=tos pro\ e(te/rou ai(/resis: a)lla\ mh\n to\ a)/llo pro\ a)/llou ai(rei=sqai e)n tou/tois e)sti/n, e)n oi(=s kai\ to\ bouleu/esqai: to\ ga\r a)/llo a)/llou prokri=nai meta\ lo/gou gi/netai: ou)de\n de\ tw=n a)lo/gwn bouleu/etai: w(/ste ou)de\ proairei=tai. *proai/resi/s e)stin o)/recis bouleutikh\ tw=n e)f' h(mi=n, h)\ bou/leusis o)rektikh\ tw=n e)f' h(mi=n: tou= ga\r prokriqe/ntos e)k th=s bouleu/sews e)fie/menos proairou=mai. boulh\ de\ e)sti\n o)/recis zhthtikh\ peri\ tw=n e)f' h(mi=n praktw=n ginome/nh. bouleu/etai ga/r tis, ei) w)/feile metelqei=n to\ pra=gma, h)\ ou)/. ei)=ta kri/nei to\ krei=tton, kai\ gi/netai kri/sis. ei)=ta diati/qetai kai\ a)gapa=| to\ e)k th=s boulh=s kriqe\n kai\ le/getai gnw/mh. e)a\n de\ kri/nh| kai\ mh\ diateqh=| pro\s to\ kriqe\n h)/goun a)gaph/sei au)to/, ou) le/getai gnw/mh. ei)=ta meta\ th\n dia/qesin gi/netai proai/resis, h)/goun e)pilogh/. proai/resis ga/r e)sti du/o prokeime/nwn, to\ ai(rei=sqai kai\ e)kle/gesqai tou=to pro\ tou= e(te/rou. kai\ tou=to fanero/n, o(/ti boulh/ e)sti met' e)pikri/sews h( proai/resis, kai\ e)c au)th=s th=s e)tumologi/as. proaireto\n ga/r e)sti to\ e(/teron pro\ tou= e(te/rou ai(reto/n. ou)dei\s de\ prokri/nei ti, mh\ bouleusa/menos: ou)de\ proairei=tai, mh\ prokri/nas. zh/tei proai/resis kai\ bou/lhsis e)n tw=| bou/lhsis.
Notes:
[1] That is to say, a hairesis before (or instead of) another one (the Greek word for "choice", and the present headword, is proairesis, a sort of "preference"). The passage reproduces Alexander of Aphrodisias, Commentaries on Aristotle's Topica 176.15-20; Alexander is commenting on Aristotle, Topics 112a32.
[2] The Greek verb is prokrinein, 'to prefer, select, make a preliminary selection'.
[3] Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1113a10-11.
[4] The Greek is bouleusis.
[5] The Greek word is boule, a synonym of bouleusis in Aristotle's ethical treatises.
[6] Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1112b22-23: 'all deliberation (bouleusis) is inquiry'.
[7] Again the Greek is very hard to render; Aristotle defines gnome as a 'correct judgment of the decent person' (Nic.Eth. 1143a20). So, a 'judgmental opinion' is the result of analyzing the possible alternatives before performing an action; it implies, therefore, a certain kind of understanding which takes into account some special cases where some "consideration" can be needed.
[8] The Greek is epiloge, another word for "taking", "preference" or "selection".
[9] The noun epikrisis can also be rendered by "selective judgement".
[10] beta 437. On the discussion of choice, deliberation and wish or "rational desire" in Aristotle's ethical treatises see Cooper (1986) 1-88.
Reference:
John M. Cooper, Reason and Human Good in Aristotle (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company) 1986 (reprint.; originally published Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press 1975).
Keywords: definition; ethics; philosophy
Translated by: Marcelo Boeri on 13 June 2000@11:49:05.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (cosmetics) on 16 January 2003@07:13:11.
David Whitehead (another keyword) on 20 November 2005@09:34:46.
David Whitehead (tweaking) on 14 October 2013@09:37:35.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 15 June 2015@00:50:36.
David Whitehead (coding) on 24 May 2016@06:21:46.
Catharine Roth (cosmeticules) on 8 November 2021@18:35:19.

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