It would help if we agreed on what “willpower” meant. I am not convinced it is a single thing. We say that a person who breaks their diet, and a person who can’t do ten pushups, and a lazy person, and a person with OCD, and a thief, all lack willpower. I don’t think these are the same.
Agreed. Some people who are highly courageous suffer deeply from akrasia. Other people do not even understand what is meant by the concept of Akrasia when it is explained to them. I do not think that means they have a large amount of willpower; akrasia is simply not an issue for them.
I remember reading about how performing tasks that require a great deal of mental concentration seems to drain an internal reserve of mental energy. As a result, your performance on other tasks that require mental focus also lapses, until you’ve had time to rest and restore your energy. I would refer to this mental energy reserve as willpower. I think this fits very well with people’s experience in fighting akrasia: attempts to use willpower in order to (for example) go on a diet works for a little bit, until all your willpower is expended and you revert to your usual habits.
It would help if we agreed on what “willpower” meant. I am not convinced it is a single thing. We say that a person who breaks their diet, and a person who can’t do ten pushups, and a lazy person, and a person with OCD, and a thief, all lack willpower. I don’t think these are the same.
Agreed. Some people who are highly courageous suffer deeply from akrasia. Other people do not even understand what is meant by the concept of Akrasia when it is explained to them. I do not think that means they have a large amount of willpower; akrasia is simply not an issue for them.
I remember reading about how performing tasks that require a great deal of mental concentration seems to drain an internal reserve of mental energy. As a result, your performance on other tasks that require mental focus also lapses, until you’ve had time to rest and restore your energy. I would refer to this mental energy reserve as willpower. I think this fits very well with people’s experience in fighting akrasia: attempts to use willpower in order to (for example) go on a diet works for a little bit, until all your willpower is expended and you revert to your usual habits.