The refusal of his patients to assume responsibility for their own actions is a recurrent theme of Dr Theodore Dalrymple’s columns. He and Aristotle see eye to eye on the matter perfectly.
In Nicomachean Ethics III, Aristotle (384–322 bc) begins by arguing that a man can wish for what really is good, or merely for what seems to him good at the time. A man of high moral character will wish the first, whereas ‘a worthless man wishes anything that takes his fancy’.
But is it in a man’s power to wish for what is good? Certainly, says Aristotle. A man wishes for an end. He decides on the means to reach that end. He chooses those means and acts on them. Now, a mere wish is neither here nor there; goodness is all about what we do.
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