Please wait a minute...
Frontiers of Philosophy in China

ISSN 1673-3436

ISSN 1673-355X(Online)

CN 11-5743/B

Postal Subscription Code 80-983

Front Phil Chin    2012, Vol. 7 Issue (4) : 533-549    https://doi.org/10.3868/s030-001-012-0035-7
research-article
Creating Character: Aristotle on Habituation, the Cognitive Power of Emotion, and the Role of Prudence
LIU Wei()
School of Philosophy, National Research Center for Ethics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
 Download: PDF(287 KB)   HTML
 Export: BibTeX | EndNote | Reference Manager | ProCite | RefWorks
Abstract

For Aristotle creating a virtuous character means habituating a stable emotional state or disposition (hexis), which enables the agent to feel and act rightly, and to have the intellectual virtue prudence (phronēsis) complete this habituation. But because feeling or emotion (pathos) is a passive state, it is not clear in what way we can make ourselves be affected correctly. This paper tries to solve this apparent difficulty by emphasizing the cognitive power of emotion. It also examines the role of prudence in the acquisition of ethical virtue, supporting an anti-intellectualist understanding of practical motivation.

Keywords Aristotle      character      habituation      emotion      prudence     
Corresponding Author(s): LIU Wei,Email:liuwei.phi@ruc.edu.cn   
Issue Date: 05 December 2012
 Cite this article:   
LIU Wei. Creating Character: Aristotle on Habituation, the Cognitive Power of Emotion, and the Role of Prudence[J]. Front Phil Chin, 2012, 7(4): 533-549.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fpc/EN/10.3868/s030-001-012-0035-7
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fpc/EN/Y2012/V7/I4/533
[1] NI Liangkang. Discussion about the Triple Foundational Relationship between Intellect, Emotion, and Willing from the Perspective of the Phenomenology of Consciousness[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2020, 15(3): 493-508.
[2] HU Xinkai. Complete Virtue and the Definition of Happiness in Aristotle[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2020, 15(2): 293-314.
[3] Jacklyn A. Cleofas. An Understanding of Character from Holistic Thinking: What Asian Psychology Teaches Us about the Debate on Situationism[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2019, 14(3): 384-405.
[4] Thierry Meynard. What the “Failure” of Aristotelian Logic in Seventeenth Century China Teaches Us Today: A Case Study of the Mingli Tan [J]. Front. Philos. China, 2019, 14(2): 248-263.
[5] Rina Marie Camus. “Athl-Ethics”: Virtue Training in Mencius and Aristotle[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2019, 14(1): 152-170.
[6] Karyn Lai. Emotional Attachment and Its Limits: Mengzi, Gaozi and the Guodian Discussions[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2019, 14(1): 132-151.
[7] Lisa Raphals 瑞麗. When Virtues, Roles and Duties Fail: Early Greek and Chinese Accounts of Akrasia[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2019, 14(1): 29-46.
[8] LI Cunshan. Forty Years’ Study of Chinese Philosophy[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(4): 634-650.
[9] Halla Kim. Existential Dimensions of Korean Neo-Confucianism: The Status of Emotions in the Four-Seven Debate[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2017, 12(4): 591-611.
[10] TONG Li. Modernity and Postmodernity: The Characteristics of Postmodern Cultural Media[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2017, 12(2): 265-277.
[11] Alicia Hennig. Three Different Approaches to Virtue in Business- Aristotle, Confucius, and Lao Zi[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2016, 11(4): 556-586.
[12] Saulius Geniusas. Max Scheler’s Phenomenology of Pain[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2016, 11(3): 358-376.
[13] Teun Tieleman. The Early Stoics and Aristotelian Ethics[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2016, 11(1): 104-121.
[14] Michael Slote. From Virtue to Freedom through Emotion[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2015, 10(3): 430-443.
[15] CHEN Guying. The Tradition of Emotive Writing in the Zhuangzi and Its Echoes in Later Generations[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2015, 10(3): 340-352.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited

  Shared   
  Discussed