- Aristotle proposes three things that the soul uses to control action and discern truth: 1) sense perception; 2) intellect; 3) longing or desire.
- Longing starts the cognitive process that ends (hopefully) in making a good choice.
- If a person longs for the right things and uses sound reasoning to think about how to fulfill desire, then he'll make a morally virtuous and conscious choice to act well.
- Aristotle distinguishes between contemplative thinking (which aims to figure out what is true or false, no actions necessary) and practical thinking, which moves truth and desire into action.
- The chain of action looks like this: choice motivates action; longing prompts choice. Reason encourages all this by helping us to see clearly why we're acting.
- No choices can be made without thought or moral character. We act well or badly based on our intellectual and moral capacities.
- Thinking isn't an action…but it can be the springboard for it.
- Choice is the product, then, of longing and intellect mixing it up.
- The intellectual bits of the soul are preoccupied with finding the truth. Each part of the soul uses its characteristics (or virtues) to get at the truth.