Continence is a prerequisite to virtue, and incontinence is an impediment to it. The person who is “incontinent” lacks self-restraint or mastery over one’s nonrational desires. Such a person might have the ability to deliberate and reach a prudent decision, but still acts according to one’s nonrational appetites.
Continence / Incontinence Quotes in Nicomachean Ethics
The Nicomachean Ethics quotes below are all either spoken by Continence / Incontinence or refer to Continence / Incontinence. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 7
Quotes
In fact the incontinent person is like a city that votes for all the right decrees and has excellent laws, but does not apply them, as in Anaxandrides' taunt, 'The city willed it, that cares nothing for laws'. The base person, by contrast, is like a city that applies its laws, but applies bad ones.[…] The [impetuous] type of incontinence found in volatile people is more easily cured than the [weak] type of incontinence found in those who deliberate but do not abide by it. And incontinents through habituation are more easily cured than the natural incontinents; for habit is easier than nature to change.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Nicomachean Ethics LitChart as a printable PDF.
Continence / Incontinence Term Timeline in Nicomachean Ethics
The timeline below shows where the term Continence / Incontinence appears in Nicomachean Ethics. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 7
Book 7, Chapters 1-3. Aristotle turns his discussion to conditions of character to be avoided—vice, incontinence, and bestiality. He focuses particularly on incontinence, which is the opposite of self-restraint. The condition...
(full context)
Book 7, Chapters 4-9. Continence and incontinence have to do with pleasures and pains. Aristotle explains that incontinence can’t be...
(full context)
Book 7, Chapter 10. Aristotle adds that an incontinent person cannot be prudent at the same time, because prudent people act on their knowledge,...
(full context)
