2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

STUDY ON ACQUSITION OF THE MORAL CONCEPT WORDS

Research Project

Project/Area Number	11610009
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Philosophy
Research Institution	KYUSHU UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator	KAN Toyohiko Faculty of Humanities, Kyushu University Prof., 大学院・人文科学研究院, 教授 (50091385)
Project Period (FY)	1999 – 2001
Keywords	MORAL REALISM / VIRTUE / DESIRE / AKRASIA / KNOWLEDGE
Research Abstract	I criticized some suppositions which support the theory that analyzes the motive into <belief and desirer>. Through this criticism, I asserted that the actor's judgement of the situation is enough to constitue his motive in the case of moral motive, and that the actor's ethos reflects his motivation. Then I tried to support Socrates' thesis that <virtue is knowledge>. I also investigated Aristotles' interpretation of akrasia in order to support the Socrates' thesis. Socrates' thesis seems to include the negation of akrasia, but we ordinarily realize our own akrasia, that is, <what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate that I do>. Then, how we resolve Socrates' paradox? This is the problem for Aristotle. I thought that 20th centuries main stream of interpretation of Aristotle's analyses of akrasia includes some premises of modern moral philosophy misleadingly. So I gave some concrete examples of these points, and tried to support Socrates' thesis that <virtue is knowledge>.