One natural way of explaining the phenomenon of akrasia, or weakness of will, would be this: to describe a conflict between a desire that is more or less rational (that represents, or corresponds to, a considered judgment on what is to be done), and a desire that is rather less rational, where the less rational desire wins out ‘against one’s better judgment.’ To explain what makes two such desires conflicting desires (as opposed to being just two different desires), it is then natural to suggest that they originate in distinct ‘parts of the soul’ (or in distinct ‘partitions of the mind’).