Abstract
Philosophers often give procrastination an anemic description—a preference,
a confl ict, a case of irrationality. Presumably, this is done in order to
make it susceptible to analysis. But if one makes use of ethical theory,
particularly one with an accompanying account of moral psychology, no
arid depiction of procrastination is necessary. An ethical theory that is
robust enough—such as traditional virtue ethics—can meet procrastination
head on, unhindered by its complex emotionality and opaque intentionality.
It can then place it alongside similarly complex behavior, comparing
and contrasting until we have some account of the darker alleyways of our
nature and the limits of our self-control.That the term vice is out of favor gives us no reason to deny that procrastination
is a moral phenomenon.