"Over-Efforting as Weakness of Will."

Determination, resoluteness, tenacity, perseverance, and effort are paradigmatically viewed as marks of a strong will, whereas giving up is often thought of as weakness – as giving in. The central idea I will explore in this talk is that these familiar dynamics can also be inverted: giving up can be hard, and require strength of will, while perseverance and continued effort can be a manifestation of weakness. It is not uncommon to respond to adversity by doubling down and investing even more effort, rather than by despairing and giving up. I make a case that there is a general form of practical irrationality common to both succumbing to temptation and to the phenomenon of “over-efforting,” such that it might be theoretically fruitful to embrace a conception of weakness of will that includes both phenomena.

Sarah Paul's research concerns agency and the philosophy of mind, focusing on the nature of intention and belief. She is also interested in questions about self-knowledge, self-control, and what it means to believe in ourselves and others when it comes to difficult actions. She came to NYUAD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has also held visiting positions at M.I.T. and Bowdoin College. She is the author of an introductory textbook on the philosophy of action that was published by Routledge in 2021.