On Aristotle’s Proairesis as Interpreted by Sebastian Petrycy of Pilzno: On “Choice or Undertaking”

Abstract

The article seeks to elucidate the sense of Aristotle’s proairesis on the basis of selected fragments of the translation and commentary by Sebastian Petrycy of Pilzno. Petrycy renders proairesis as “choice or undertaking”. The author shows that the expression is used for a reason and demonstrates that proairesis in the full sense of the word creates: (1) undertaking in the sense of designating the goal to be achieved; (2a) own choice in the sense of a preferential choice, that is, choosing one course of action rather than another;  (2b) own choice in the sense of the decision about proceeding with accepted course of action; (3) undertaking in the sense of starting (and continuing) the action leading to the achieving of the designated goal. In so doing, the author proves that Aristotle’s proairesis, according to Sebastian Petrycy of Pilzno, is constituted by “choice” and “undertaking” which are its features or elements. Furthermore, he shows that the activity of proairesis does not end before the action because it does overlap with action, at least in the sense that it starts the action.