CONTENTS OF THE FOURTH VOLUME. ESSAYS ON THE POWERS OF THE HUMAN MIND. ESSAY II.. OF THE WILL. 11. Of the influence of incitements and motives upon the will ESSAYS ON THE ACTIVE POWERS OF THE HUMAN MIND. ESSAY II. OF THE WILL. CHAP. I. OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE WILL. EVERY man is conscious of a power to determine, in things which he conceives to depend upon his determination. [Note A.] To this power we give the name of will; and, as it is usual, in the operations of the mind, to give the same name to the power and to the act of that power, the term will is often put to signify the act of determining, which more properly is called volition. Volition, therefore, signifies the act of willing and determining; and will is put indifferently to signify either the power of willing or the act. But the term will has very often, especially in the writings of Nilosophers, a more extensive meaning, 2 which we must carefully distinguish from that which we have now given. In the general division of our faculties into understanding and will, our passions, appetites, and affections, are comprehended under the will; and so it is made to signify, not only our determination to act or not to act, but every motive and incitement to action. It is this, probably, that has led some philosophers to represent desire, aversion, hope, fear, joy, sorrow, all our appetites, passions, and affections, as different modifications of the will; which, I think, tends to confound things which are very different in their nature. The advice given to a man, and his determination consequent to that advice, are things so different in their nature, that it would be improper to call them modifications of one and the same thing. In like manner, the motives to action, and the determination to act or not to act, are things that have no common nature, and therefore ought not to be confounded under one name, or represented as different modifications of the same thing. For this reason, in speaking of the will in this Essay, I do not comprehend under that term any of the incitements or motives which may have an influence upon our determinations, but solely the determination itself, and the power to determine. Mr. Locke has considered this operation of the mind more attentively, and distinguished it more accurately, than some very ingenious authors who wrote after him. He defines volition to be, “An act of the mind, knowingly exerting that dominion it takes itself to have over any part of the man, by employing it in, or withholding it from any particular action.” It may more briefly be defined, The determination of the mind to do, or not to do something which we conceive to be in our power. If this were given as a strictly logical definition, it would be liable to this objection, that the determination of the mind is only another term for volition. But it ought to be observed, that the most simple acts of the mind do not admit of a logical definition. The way to form a clear notion of them is, to reflect attentively upon them as we feel them in ourselves. Without this reflection, no definition can give us a distinct conception of them. For this reason, rather than sift any definition of the will, I shall make some observations upon it, which may lead us to reflect upon it, and to distinguish it from other acts of mind, which, from the ambiguity of words, are apt to be confounded with it. 1st, Every act of will must have an object. He that wills must will something; and that which he wills is called the object of his volition. As a man cannot think without thinking of something, nor remember without remembering something, so neither can he will without willing something. Every act of will, therefore, must have an object; and the person who wills must have some conception, more or less distinct, of what he wills. By this, things done voluntarily are distinguished from things done merely from instinct, or merely from habit. A healthy child, some hours after its birth, feels the sensation of hunger, and, if applied to the breast, sucks and swallows its food very perfectly. We have no reason to think, that, before it ever sucked, it has any conception of that complex operation, or how it is performed. It cannot, therefore, with propriety, be said, that it wills to suck. Numberless instances might be given of things done by animals, without any previous conception of what they are to do; without the intention of doing it. They act by some inward blind impulse, of which the efficient cause is hid from us; and though there is an |