Will

• Human will (or will power)

  A spiritual tendency towards the good thing perceived by the intellect
• Man is open to the truth and the good (good things); he tends towards good things in a natural way
• Desires and impulses


  Tendencies towards the good things perceived by our senses
• Human will


  The tendency we have towards the good thing that is grasped or understood by the intellect
• Rational appetite


  (in classical philosophy) The inclination towards the intellectual good (the good thing understood by the intellect)
• It can be difficult to distinguish between the sensitive tendencies (desire, impulse) and the tendencies of an intellectual or rational nature (wanting, loving)
• Wanting the same good thing


  • Wanting by the will (I choose to eat this cake)
  • Desired by the concupiscible appetite (I am hungry, I want to take this piece of cake!)
• When something good is desired by the concupiscible appetite


  But is rejected by the will
• We can show the existence of the rational inclination in man (will) by looking at cases where people act in an "involuntary way"
• Involuntary actions


  • Honest mistake (I did not mean it or I did not know it was wrong)
  • Action carried out against one's will (somebody forced you to do something wrong)
• Will


  An operative faculty (a capacity to act) of a spiritual nature which follows on from the act of understanding
• Object of the will

  The good thing that has been known previously by the intellect
• The object of the will is any being in as much as it is good or loveable
• The end of the will is any good thing, be it real or apparent
• Will


  • Does not depend on limits of space and time
  • Can desire non-physical or non-material realities (e.g. values such as honour, justice, fame)
• No created good is capable of fully satisfying man's desire for happiness; man's will, capacity to want and to love, is always open to more good things
• Intellect


  Presents to the will a good that ought to be loved
• Will


  Makes the intellect consider the object or good known
• Freedom


  A property of the human being as such; not just the will is free, rather the whole person is free
• Freedom


  The characteristic of the human person that permits him to direct his own acts towards attaining a given goal that he has chosen thanks to the fact that he has intellect and will
• Four dimensions of freedom

  • Fundamental or constitutive freedom
  • Freedom to choose
  • Moral freedom
  • Social freedom
• Fundamental or constitutive freedom


  A characteristic of the human person as such, by which he is open to the real world, can know and love it and move himself, self-determine himself, to tend towards some good thing freely
• Freedom to choose


  Capacity to choose from various possibilities in order to actually determine himself to move towards some specific good
• Moral freedom


  The real, acquired freedom of a human person; this is the capacity we have for making good choices
• Social freedom


  Freedom of individuals to exercise basic rights (speech, assembly, worship) without unwarranted or arbitrary interference by governments
• These course notes were prepared by Maria Rosario G. Catacutan, PhD, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Strathmore University for purposes of teaching the unit Philosophical anthropology for the semester April to July 2024
• The author requests that her permission be obtained by any student or lecturer of the university who wishes to use this presentation for purposes other than what is intended by the author
• Rational powers


  • Intellect - To know, to understand
  • Will - To love
• Animal powers (sensitive life)

  • Knowing (External and internal senses) - To perceive objects in one's surroundings
  • Unifying sense (Perception) - To assemble sensations
  • Estimation - To perceive what is beneficial or harmful
  • Memory - To remember
  • Imagination - To imagine
  • Appetitive (Feelings, emotions) - To feel/respond to pleasant or unpleasant situations
• Vegetative powers


  Nutrition, growth, reproduction
• Knowledge


  Knowing about something
• Desire


  Wanting something
• Human will


  The faculty of the spiritual soul that inclines us to pursue or strive for something good that we have grasped -as good- by our intelligence
• Sensitive appetites


  Tendencies towards something good that is known through the senses
• Intellectual appetite


  Tendencies toward something good that is known intellectually
• Voluntary actions


  Actions done with knowledge and choice, not forced by someone else
• Free actions


  Actions done with knowledge and free choice
• True good


  Something that will make me a better person and contribute to my development
• False good


  Something that may seem good but does not actually contribute to my development
• Love as a feeling

  A sensitive response to an external stimulus