ABSTRACT

Self-control is normally, if only tacitly, viewed as an inherently practical capacity or achievement: as exercised only in the domain of action. Questioning this assumption, we wish to motivate the perhaps unexpected idea that self-control is in fact a transversal phenomenon which is applicable both to action and to belief. While there may be some differences in how self-control is manifested in the respective realms of action and belief, these differences do not undermine the basic takeaway: that agents can and do exercise self-control with respect to both actions and beliefs. These arguments target synchronic self-control, or the exercise of self-control on a discrete occasion; in the final section, we examine whether there is also a more holistic trait or stable state of a person which could aptly be considered a form of self-control.

摘要

自我控制通常被视为一种内在的实际能力或成就：仅在行动领域中得到锻炼，即使只是默认的。质疑这个假设，我们希望激发一个可能出乎意料的想法，即自我控制实际上是一种横向现象，适用于行动和信念。虽然自我控制在各自的行动和信念领域中表现出来的方式可能存在一些差异，但这些差异并没有破坏基本的结论：代理人可以并且确实在行动和信念方面进行自我控制。这些论点针对的是同步自我控制，或在离散场合进行自我控制；在最后一节中，我们检查是否还有一个更全面的特征或一个人的稳定状态，可以恰当地将其视为一种自我控制的形式。