Aristotle's Thoughts on Freedom

Aristotle then talks about the power of voluntary choice in relation to moral responsibility. He points out that we should only give praise to voluntary actions, therefore we have to distinguish between voluntary actions, and involuntary ones. He says that force or ignorance, brings about involuntary actions. There are times when it seems that the person is doing a voluntary action, when in fact that he is performing an involuntary action. For example, if a ship's captain dumps his cargo in a storm, because he thinks that this is the only way to save his ship, this is an involuntary action, because he is forced, by the storm, to dump his cargo.

Aristotle then considers whether virtue and vice are always within our power. Whatever object of desire motivates our action, we are free to "deliberate and decide about what promotes it" as means to an end. We have in our powers to pick fine or shameful; to the extent that, each of us is free to become "a good person or a bad one," Aristotle also admits that once a person goes down the "bad" path, reform is very difficult, however reform is still possible.