Peter Abelard The Mind's Vices

Peter Abelard seeks to locate the origin of moral wrongdoing referred to as sin within his work, Ethics, or Know Thyself. Abelard begins his argument by explaining to the reader how morals, which he regards to as “the mind’s vices or virtues” (202a), dispose individuals to either good or bad deeds. Abelard defines the mind’s vices as entities that can impact an individual’s ethical actions and morals. Abelard explains how some goods of the mind, such as ignorance and forgetfulness, are not relevant in influencing an individual’s morals as they do not impact the individual’s moral actions, causing the propagation of bad deeds. Furthermore, Abelard explains to the reader how vices dispose an individual to sin but Argues that vices do not cause

Abelard explains how individuals are disposed to perform good or bad deeds by morals which he often refers to as “the minds vices or virtues” (202a). Consequently, while doing this, Abelard illustrates how vices are not the main reason behind the propagation of sin. Abelard explains how some individuals are prone to vicious temperaments due to the “body’s very nature or structure”; however, “they [do not] sin by the fact they are like this” (203a). Instead the individual gains a material they can utilize to triumph over their being as they battle against their nature. By doing this, the individual can transcend the limits of their being by overcoming their nature. Abelard continues his argument by making a distinction between vice and sin by explaining to the reader how vice “[inclines an individual] to consent to what is inappropriate” (204b) and illustrates how it is from this consent of the inappropriate that sin originates. Abelard explains that as individuals consent to what is inappropriate they will either perform or neglect the will of God and behind this intention is where sin lies. Thus, an individuals vice influences the individual to consent to their intent it is from this that sin