聖多瑪斯意志哲學中的「意志薄弱／不自制」問題

希臘文術語akrasia意指「軟弱無力」，諸如柏拉圖、亞里斯多德等古代希臘哲學家都對該問題有所思考。特別是在亞里斯多德《尼各馬科倫理學》的倫理學考量中，akrasia用來表達人在倫理行為中所表現出來的「軟弱無力」，即實際行動與道德知識（或信念）的違背，因此通常被專門譯為「意志薄弱」，後者亦展現為亞氏倫理學議程的關鍵主題之一。聖多瑪斯．阿奎那以拉丁文詞彙incontinentia，即「不自制」來指稱同一意涵，發展了亞氏的「意志薄弱」理論，他圍繞「不自制」這一倫理現象來闡發意志的軟弱，並將其深遠內涵納入到了自己的意志哲學當中。

關鍵字

聖多瑪斯．阿奎那；亞里斯多德；意志薄弱／不自制；意志

並列摘要

Greek term akrasia signifies ＂weakness＂ which has been elaborated by some ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. Especially, in Aristotle's ethical account in Nicomachean Ethics, akrasia presents as one of the key topics in his ethical agenda. It implies the ＂weakness＂ in human action within ethical context, namely the deviation of actual performance from the dictation of moral knowledge or conviction. Thus akrasia is usually translated as ＂the weakness of will＂. With Latin term ＂incontinentia＂, St. Thomas Aquinas indicates the same meaning to advance Aristotelian theory of akrasia by focusing on the human will. As a result, he illustrates the weakness of will by the ethical phenomenon ＂incontinence＂ and brings its profundity in his own philosophy of the will.