Philosophy

suggested, a voluntary movement is merely one which is preceded by the thought of it, and has the thought of it as an essential part of its cause. When I say this, I do not mean to take any particular view as to what constitutes “thinking”. It may consist almost entirely of talking, as Dr. Watson holds; or it may be something more. That is not the point at present. The point is that, whatever philosophy one may adopt, there certainly is an occurrence which is described by ordinary people as “thinking of getting up in the morning”, or “thinking of” any other bodily movement. Whatever the analysis of this occurrence may be, it is an essential part of the cause of any movement which can be attributed to the “will”. It is true, of course, that we may think of a movement without performing it. This is analogous to imagining a state of affairs without believing in it; each is a rather sophisticated and late development. Each will only happen when we think of several things at once, and one of them interferes with another. It may, I think, be assumed that, whenever we think of a possible movement, we have a tendency to perform it, and are only restrained, if at all, by some thought, or other circumstance, having a contrary tendency. If this is the case, there is nothing at all mysterious about the will. Whatever may constitute “thinking of” a movement, it is certainly something associated with the movement itself; therefore, by the usual law of learned reactions we should expect that thinking of a movement would tend to cause it to occur. This, I should say, is the essence of will. Emphatic cases of volition, where we decide after a period of deliberation, are merely examples of conflicting forces. You may have both pleasant and unpleasant associations with some place that you are thinking of going to; this may cause you to hesitate, until one or other association proves the stronger. There may be more than this in volition, but I cannot see any good ground for believing that there is.