[‘ Practical deliberation or reasoning leading to choice; the power to choose or make a decision.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /prəʊˈɪərᵻsɪs/, prəʊˈɛrᵻsɪs, U.S. /proʊˈɛrəsəs/
Forms: 16 18– *proairesis*, 19– *proaeresis*, 19– *prohairesis*.
Etymology: < ancient Greek /προαίρεσις/ choice of one thing before another, considered by Aristotle as characteristic of moral action < /προ-* pro- prefix2 + /αἵρεσις* choice (see heresy n.), after *προαιρεῖσθαι* to choose deliberately, to prefer. Compare post-classical Latin /prohaeresis/ (from 13th cent. in British sources).
Not fully naturalized in English.
/Ethics/.
Practical deliberation or reasoning leading to choice; the power to choose or make a decision.
1644 Milton /Of Educ./ 5 That act of reason which in Ethics is call’d Proairesis.
1894 /Philos. Rev./ *3* 480 Prominent in his [/sc./ Epictetus’s] Ethics is the conception of right proairesis, of free-will, of rational self-determination.
1926 T. R. Noyes tr. T. Zielinski /Relig. Anc. Greece/ vii. 178 Man possesses free will, or, to speak more exactly, the power of choice (prohairesis), which makes it possible for him to gain what is best from situations created for him by necessity.
1953 T. G. Rosenmeyer tr. B. Snell /Discov. Mind/ viii. 183 Aristotle speaks as a follower of Socrates when he says that all action is preceded by prohairesis.
1962 /Philos. Rev./ *71* 457 /Proairesis/ is strategic: those who deliberate canvass the courses of action open to them in the light of what they take to be the relevant beliefs and try to decide what the best opening move would be.
1999 /Renaissance Q./ *52* 1187 Early figures exercise Aristotelian proairesis, a deliberated moral decision.