MA 7 701a25-701b1 Action without rational calculation

Aristotle: Selected Texts (Greek)

ὥσπερ δὲ τῶν ἐρωτώντων ἔνιοι, οὕτω τὴν ἑτέραν πρότασιν τὴν δήλην οὐδ᾽ ἡ διάνοια ἐπιστᾶσα σκοπεῖ οὐθέν· οἷον εἰ τὸ βαδίζειν ἀγαθὸν ἀνθρώπῳ, ὅτι αὐτὸς ἄνθρωπος, οὐκέτι ἐν διατρίβει. διὸ καὶ ὅσα μὴ λογισάμενοι πράττομεν, ταχὺ πράττομεν. ὅταν ἐνεργήσῃ γὰρ ἢ τῇ αἰσθήσει πρὸς τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα ἢ τῇ φαντασίᾳ ἢ τῷ νῷ, οὗ ὀρέγεται, εὐθὺς ποιεῖ. ἀντ᾽ ἐρωτήσεως γὰρ ἢ νοήσεως ἡ τῆς ὀρέξεως γίνεται ἐνέργεια. ποτέον μοι ἡ ἐπιθυμία λέγει· τοδὶ δὲ ποτόν ἡ αἴσθησις εἶπεν ἢ ἡ φαντασία ἢ ὁ νοῦς· εὐθὺς πίνει. οὕτω μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ κινεῖσθαι καὶ πράττειν τὰ ζῷα ὁρμῶσιν, τῆς μὲν ἐσχάτης αἰτίας τοῦ κινεῖσθαι ὀρέξεως οὔσης, ταύτης δὲ γιγνομένης ἢ δι᾽ αἰσθήσεως ἢ διὰ φαντασίας καὶ νοήσεως. τῶν δὲ ὀρεγομένων πράττειν τὰ μὲν δι᾽ ἐπιθυμίαν ἢ θυμὸν τὰ δὲ διὰ προαίρεσιν ἢ βούλησιν τὰ μὲν ποιοῦσιν, τὰ δὲ πράττουσιν.

Just as some questioners do, so discursive thought does not settle on and examine the second proposition, namely, the clear one, at all. For examaple, if walking is good for man, and that he is a man, it does not take time in considering. This is why we act quickly when we act without rational calculation. For whenever one has an active perception or phantasia or thought towards the thing for the sake of which, immediately he does the thing that is desired. For the activity of desire comes about in the place of questioning or thinking. The desire says to me, ‘I should drink.’ And ‘This is drinkable,’ said perception or phantasia or understanding. He immediately drinks. In this way animals are impulsed to move and act, with desire being the last cause of their movement, and this [desire] comes about either through perception or through phantasia or through thought. Of animals that desire to act, some make things or do things through appetite or spiritedness, and some act through decision or wish.