In Maintaining That / Maintaining That
“Thus a rational creature, who reflects upon the suitability to his desires of one course of action or another, may nonetheless be a wanton. In maintaining that the essence of being a person lies not in reason but in will, I am far from suggesting that a creature without reason may be a person. For it is only in virtue of his rational capacities that a person is capable of becoming critically aware of his own will and of forming volitions of the second order. The structure of a person’s will presupposes, accordingly, that he is a rational being.”
I'd like to see if the 'in' before maintaining is essential. If so, could you tell me what 'in' means in the phrase? To me, the following seems to be completely fine: Maintaining that the essence of being a person likes not in reason but in will, I am far from suggesting that a creature without reason may be a person.
Top answer
anonymous could you tell me what 'in' means in the phrase? "by the act of"; "by reason of my" anonymous To me, the following seems to be completely fine Not completely. He means that he does not want us to suppose that his emphasis on will means that reason is unimportant.
- anonymous could you tell me what 'in' means in the phrase?
- "by the act of"; "by reason of my" anonymous To me, the following seems to be completely fine Not completely.
- He means that he does not want us to suppose that his emphasis on will means that reason is unimportant.
- Your version would say that he does emphasize will (but we already knew that), and also that he does not do the other thing.
- The connection is broken without "in".
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anonymouscould you tell me what 'in' means in the phrase?
"by the act of"; "by reason of my"
anonymousTo me, the following seems to be completely fine
Not completely. He means that he does not want us to suppose that his emphasis on will means that reason is unimportant. Your version would say that he does emphasiz
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