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Information about Will (philosophy)

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“Will power” redirects here. For the racing driver, see Will Power.
Will, or willpower, is a philosophical concept that is defined in several different ways.

Will as internal drive

Further information: Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, and Intrinsic motivation


Nietzsche defines will similarly to the "any internally motivated action" usage, but more narrowly. In this sense, will is more a "creative spark," a certain independence and stubbornness. A person who chooses not to steal because the Ten Commandments said so would not be exercising their will; neither would someone buying some music because their friends recommended it. Someone who independently forms their own moral system or who composes a musical composition pleasing to themself, however, would be exercising will.

Idealism: Will as all

Further information: Idealism, New Thought, Magick


In idealist models of reality, the material world is either non-existent or is a secondary artifact of the "true" world of ideas. In such worlds, it can be said that everything is an act of will. Even if you are arrested by the police, this is actually an act of your will, too; if you didn't want it to happen, you could have decided otherwise. This line of thought is seen among philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer in his book The World as Will and Representation; it is also seen in proponents of a spiritual or mystical universe such as the New Thought writers Frank Channing Haddock (The Power of Will) and William Walker Atkinson (Personal Power Volume V: Will Power), and the occult writer Aleister Crowley.

Free Will

Main article: Free will


The standard use of this term is as a distinction between internally motivated and caused events and external events. Jumping off a cliff would be an act of free will; accidentally falling or being pushed off a cliff would not be an act of free will.

Some people believe that seemingly "free" actions aren't actually free, or that the entire concept is a chimera. The argument generally goes along the lines that since "internal" beliefs are affected by earlier external events, nothing is truly an internal choice, because everything you do is [preetermined]]. Alternately, if there is no foreordained future, we may be at the mercy of the randomness of chance, which may also negate free will.

In related disciplines

Further information: Will (sociology), Volition (psychology)


Psychologists also deal with issues of will; some people are highly intrinsically motivated and do whatever seems best to them, while others are "weak-willed" and easily suggestible (extrinsicly motivated) by society or outward inducement. They also study the phenomenon of Akrasia, wherein people seemingly act against their best interests and know that they are doing so (for instance, restarting cigarette smoking after having intellectually decided to quit). Advocates of Sigmund Freud's psychology stress the importance of the influence of the unconscious mind upon the apparent conscious exercise of will.

The sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies, in analysing group psychology, distinguishes between will directed at furthering the interests of the group (Wesenwille or "essential will"), and will directed at furthering individual goals (Kürwille or "arbitrary will").

Further reading

References

External links

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Will Power (born March 1, 1981) is a motorsport driver from Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia.

He won the 2002 Australian Formula Holden (Formula 4000) championship by winning 7 times and achieving 3 pole positions.
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Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic).
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Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvilhelm ˈniːtʃə]) was a nineteenth-century German philosopher.
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Motivation is a reason or set of reasons for engaging in a particular behavior, especially human behavior as studied in psychology and neuropsychology. The reasons may include basic needs (e.g.
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Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvilhelm ˈniːtʃə]) was a nineteenth-century German philosopher.
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This article is about the philosophical notion of idealism. Idealism is also a term in international relations theory and in Christian eschatology.
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Magick, in the broadest sense, is any act designed to cause intentional change.[1] The spelling with the terminal "k" was repopularized in the first half of the 20th century by Aleister Crowley when he introduced it as a core component of Thelema.
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Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher who believed that the will to live is the fundamental reality and that this will, being a constant striving, is insatiable and ultimately yields only suffering.
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The World as Will and Representation is the central work of Arthur Schopenhauer.

Relationship to earlier philosophical work

The main body of the work states at the beginning that it assumes prior knowledge of Immanuel Kant's theories, and Schopenhauer is regarded by
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Frank Channing Haddock (1853-1915) was an influential New Thought and self-help author, best known for his series, The Power-Book Library.

Early life and career

Frank Channing Haddock was born November 17th, 1853 in Watertown, New York.
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William Walker Atkinson (December 5, 1862 - November 22, 1932) was a very important and influential American figure in the early days of the New Thought Movement. He was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of New
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The word occult comes from the Latin occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to "knowledge of the hidden".[1] In the medical sense it is used commonly to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g. an "occult bleed.
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Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947; the surname is pronounced /'krəʊ.li/ i.e.
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359, 1805–1809.
  • Hofstadter, Douglas. (2007) I Am A Strange Loop. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465030781
  • Kane, Robert (1998). The Significance of Free Will. New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-512656-4
  • Lawhead, William F. (2005).
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    • Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and behavior, decision and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences.
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    In sociology, will is a concept introduced by Ferdinand Tönnies in "Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft", 1887. Tönnies' approach was very much indebted to Spinoza's dictum voluntas atque intellectus unum et idem sunt
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    Volition, conation, or will is the faculty by which an individual decides on and commits to a particular course of action. It is one of the three primary human psychological faculties (the other two being affect or feeling and cognition or thinking), volition is the
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    Psychology (from Greek: Literally "talk about the soul" (from logos)) is both an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior.
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    Motivation is a reason or set of reasons for engaging in a particular behavior, especially human behavior as studied in psychology and neuropsychology. The reasons may include basic needs (e.g.
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    Akrasia (ancient Greek ἀκρασία, "lacking command (over oneself)"), occasionally transliterated as acrasia, is the state of acting against one's better judgement.
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    Sigmund Freud

    Born May 6 1856(1856--)
    Freiberg, Moravia, now the Czech Republic
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    unconscious refers to that part of mental functioning of which subjects make themselves unaware [28].

    Freud proposed a vertical and hierarchical architecture of human consciousness: the conscious mind, the preconscious, and the unconscious mind - each lying
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    Ferdinand Tönnies (July 26, 1855, near Oldenswort (Eiderstedt, Northern Frisia) - April 9, 1936, Kiel, Germany) was a German sociologist. He was a major contributor to sociological theory and field studies, as well as bringing Thomas Hobbes back on the agenda, by publishing his
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    Aurelius Augustinus, Augustine of Hippo, or Saint Augustine (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430) was a philosopher and theologian, and was bishop of the North African city of Hippo Regius for the last third of his life.
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    For other people named Martin Luther, see .


    Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German monk,[1] theologian, and church reformer. He is also considered to be the founder of Protestantism.
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    Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvilhelm ˈniːtʃə]) was a nineteenth-century German philosopher.
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