Again, there is a character liable to be taken off his feet in defiance
of Right Reason because of passion; whom passion so far masters as to
prevent his acting in accordance with Right Reason, but not so far as
to make him be convinced that it is his proper line to follow after
such pleasures without limit: this character is the man of Imperfect
Self- Control, better than he who is utterly destitute of it, and not a
bad man simply and without qualification: because in him the highest
and best part, i.e. principle, is preserved: and there is another
character opposed to him who is apt to abide by his resolutions, and
not to depart from them; at all events, not at the instigation of
passion.
It is evident then from all this, that Self-Control is a good state and
the Imperfection of it a bad one.
Chapter VIII.
Next comes the question, whether a man is a man of Self-Control for
abiding by his conclusions and moral choice be they of what kind they
may, or only by the right one; or again, a man of Imperfect
Self-Control for not abiding by his conclusions and moral choice be
they of whatever kind; or, to put the case we did before, is he such
for not abiding by false conclusions and wrong moral choice?
Is not this the truth, that _incidentally_ it is by conclusions and
moral choice of any kind that the one character abides and the other
does not, but _per se_ true conclusions and right moral choice:[19] to
explain what is meant by incidentally, and _per se_; suppose a man
chooses or pursues this thing for the sake of that, he is said to
pursue and choose that _per se_, but this only incidentally. For the
term _per se_ we use commonly the word “simply,” and so, in a way, it
is opinion of any kind soever by which the two characters respectively
abide or not, but he is “simply” entitled to the designations who
abides or not by the true opinion.
There are also people, who have a trick of abiding by their, own
opinions, who are commonly called Positive, as they who are hard to be
persuaded, and whose convictions are not easily changed: now these
people bear some resemblance to the character of Self-Control, just as
the prodigal to the liberal or the rash man to the brave, but they are
different in many points. The man of Self-Control does not change by
reason of passion and lust, yet when occasion so requires he will be
easy of persuasion: but the Positive man changes not at the call of
Reason, though many of this class take up certain desires and are led
by their pleasures. Among the class of Positive are the Opinionated,
the Ignorant, and the Bearish: the first, from the motives of pleasure
and pain: I mean, they have the pleasurable feeling of a kind of
victory in not having their convictions changed, and they are pained
when their decrees, so to speak, are reversed: so that, in fact, they
rather resemble the man of Imperfect Self-Control than the man of
Self-Control.