Who Discovered the Will?

Many modern critics regard the concept of the will as an anachronism that ought to be excluded from our account of Greek philosophers. Ross remarks: 'It has often been complained that the psychology of Plato and Aristotle has no distinct conception of the Gauthier insists that 'in the psychology of Aristotle the will does not exist'.2 According to Maclntyre, 'Aristotle, like every other ancient pre-Christian author, had no concept of the will and there is no conceptual space in his scheme for such an alien notion in the explanations of defect and error.'3 Different candidates have been proposed for the title of discoverer of the will. Sometimes the introduction of the will into accounts of choice and action is attributed to the Romans.4 Sometimes Augustine is regarded as the pioneer, under Hebraic and Christian influence.5 Sometimes the honour (if that is the right word) goes to Maximus the Confessor.6 A proper discussion of this question requires a wide-ranging historical and philosophical inquiry. It is particularly important to identify and to examine the relevant philosophical issues, if we are to see which questions need to be answered in deciding whether or not a philosopher has a concept or theory of the will.7 I do not intend to survey all the relevant evidence and issues. I will simply pick out some issues that are relevant to one dispute about the will. Those who deny that Greek philosophers have any concept of the will recognize that Greek theories explain choice and action by reference to beliefs and desires. But they argue that the features ascribed to beliefs and desires in these theories fall short of the characteristic features of the will.8 Some Greek theories, and in particular the Socratic and Stoic theories, are intellectualist. According to an intellectualist view, all that affects our choice between doing A and doing B is our belief about whether A or B is, all things