Kitap 3
18
Ignorance therefore being possible in respect of all these circumstances of the act, one who has acted in ignorance of any of them is held to have acted involuntarily, and especially so if ignorant of the most important of them; and the most important of the circumstances seem to be the nature of the act itself and the effect it will produce.
19
Such then is the nature of the ignorance that justifies our speaking of an act as involuntary, given the further condition that the agent feels sorrow and regret for having committed it.
20
An involuntary action being one done under compulsion or through ignorance, a voluntary act would seem to be an act of which the origin lies in the agent, who knows the particular circumstances in which he is acting.
21
For it is probably a mistake to sayPlat. Laws 683b ff., coupled anger and appetite with ignorance as sources of wrong action. that acts caused by anger or by desire are involuntary.
22
In the first place, (1) if we do so, we can no longer say that any of the lower animals act voluntarily, or children either.
23
Then (2) are none of our actions that are caused by desire or anger voluntary, or are the noble ones voluntary and the base involuntary? Surely this is an absurd distinction when one person is the author of both.
24
Yet perhaps it is strange to speak of acts aiming at things which it is right to aim at as involuntary; and it is right to feel anger at some things, and also to feel desire for some things, for instance health, knowledge.
25
Also (3) we think that involuntary actions are painful and actions that gratify desire pleasant.
26
And again (4) what difference is there in respect of their involuntary character between wrong acts committed deliberately and wrong acts done in anger?
