
Contents
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2.1 Introduction: Self-Possession 2.1 Introduction: Self-Possession
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2.2 Virtues of Willpower 2.2 Virtues of Willpower
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2.3 Selfhood as Agency 2.3 Selfhood as Agency
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2.4 What Is Self-Control? 2.4 What Is Self-Control?
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2.5 Self-Creation and Divine Creation 2.5 Self-Creation and Divine Creation
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References References
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2 Virtues of Willpower and Self-Possession
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Published:February 2025
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Abstract
This chapter argues that the virtues of willpower (courage, self-control, patience, perseverance, etc.) put the self in possession of itself, and, since to be a self is (in part) to be in possession of oneself, are important in the very constitution of the self. The virtues of willpower are impulse-resisting personal strengths, excellent traits that enable their possessor to do work on his or her self. To be a self is (in part) to be an agent; to be an agent is to be an origin of one’s actions; and the power that enables such origination is choice. The person with the virtues of willpower exercises choice over the very self she is and thereby is an agent/origin/creator/owner of that self. In saying that humans have a role in creating themselves, we do not deny that we have been made by Another who has established the conditions of selfhood and to whom we are subject.
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