What is the link between regret and weakness of will?. (2nd April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Doucet, Mathieu
• Is Part Of: Philosophical psychology. Volume 29:Number 3(2016)
• Page Start: 448
• Page End: 461
• Publication Date: 2016-04-02
• Subjects: Akrasia -- Regret -- Self-Assessment -- Self-Control -- Self-Knowledge -- Weakness of Will; Psychology -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; Philosophy -- Periodicals; Psychology -- Methodology -- Periodicals; 150.1
• DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2015.1099621
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0951-5089

Abstract

Abstract: This paper argues (a) that most contemporary accounts of weakness of will either implicitly or explicitly assume that regret is a typical or even necessary element of standard cases of weakness of will and (b) that this assumption is mistaken. I draw on empirical and philosophical work on self-assessment to show that regret need not accompany typical weak-willed behavior, and that we should therefore revise the dominant account of the difference between weakness of will and (mere) changes of mind.