Chapter 1

What is the Will?

There is no form of mental activity so universal in its visible
manifestations as that which we call the Will. And, likewise,
there is none so generally misunderstood and so little
understood as the Will. When we come to consider the nature
of the Will we find ourselves confronting a score of definitions,
theories and beliefs. In fact, it almost may be said that to each
and every individual the word Will has a different meaning, or
a different shade of meaning. Ask yourself what you mean when
you say the Will; then ask a few of your friends and associates,
and see how widely varying are the answers and definitions.
While we shall ever try to avoid philosophical hair-splitting, in
this series of books on The New Psychology, nevertheless we
find from time to time that we must come to some sort of
clear understanding with our readers regarding the meaning
of certain terms; and in order to do so we must analyze those
terms and consider the views of the best authorities regarding
them. And this course is especially needed in the case of the
term before us The Will. What is The Will?
Passing by the philosophical conceptions of Will, in the sense
of a universal acting mind, as postulated by Schopenhauer,
von Hartmann, Nietsche and others, and confining ourselves
The Will
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closely to the psychological acceptation of the term, let us
consult the various authorities. A leading American dictionary
defines Will as follows: The determination or choice of one
possessing authority; discretionary pleasure, command, decree;
also Arbitrary power, disposal, or authority, absolute power to
control determine or dispose, also Strong wish or inclination,
desire, intention, disposition, pleasure; also: That which is
strongly desired or wished for as He had his will.
The same
authority gives the following note regarding the philosophical
meaning of the term: Though the word will has often been
used, as it popularly is, in two senses (I) the power of the
mind which enables a person to choose between two courses
of action; and (II) the actual exercise of that power strict
reasoners separate these meanings, calling the former will and
the latter volition. Will in this limited sense is that mental power
or faculty by which, of two or more objects of desire or courses
of action presented to it, it chooses one, rejecting the other or
others. To what extent this power of selection is arbitrary, or is
the result of necessity, has been for ages a subject of controversy.
The division of the mental powers which came down from
antiquity, and was most generally adopted by the philosophers,
were the powers belonging to the understanding, and those
belonging to the will. Reid adopted it, although considering it
not quite logical. Under the will he says, we comprehend our
active powers and all that lead to action or influence the mind
to act, such as appetite, passions, affections. Brown considered
this classification as very illogical, considering that the will was
not in any way opposed to the intellect, but exercised in the
intellectual department an empire almost as wide as that which
was allotted to itself. We reason he says, and plan and invent,
at least as voluntarily as we esteem or hate, or hope or fear. The
term Active Powers used by Reid is a synonym for the Will.
In order to see still further the confusing uses of this word,
consider the definitions of the same authority of the term used
as a verb: To determine by an act of choice; to form a wish or

What is the Will

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