EleutherIA — Defined term

Boulesis (Rational Desire / Will)

βούλησις

Classical Greek

Boulesis means wish or rational desire, not deliberation; deliberation is bouleusis. In Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics III.2, boulesis differs from prohairesis: it can concern impossibilities or outcomes not achievable by the agent, and it is chiefly directed at the end. III.4 asks whether its object is the real or the apparent good. In Stoic terminology, Diogenes Laertius VII.116 defines boulesis as a well-reasoned desire, an eupathic counterpart to irrational appetite. Claims about its relation to Latin voluntas are later historical interpretations and require explicit secondary attribution.

Open this record in Scholar mode

Source snapshot seo-source-sha256-51705b13ef303079a5960029d6bf45a566ca04087e345b86aaa3ec979e44d8d6 · 2026-08-24