SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WILL. 139 



The growth of the Will 



The Freedom of the Will is the power to win 

 freedom. 



The weak man cannot be a good man, the strong 

 man may be. Man's heritage is the power to 

 choose. The rlXop is not ^VGIKOV ri determined 

 for us. We create our own rtXoc, our own 

 (fravTciaia, which is a mere CJHUVO/ULEVOV ayaOov or 

 the real TO ayaOov in proportion as we use our 

 " power of self-emancipation." x 



Every act of choice wins or loses freedom. 

 Hence "every choice is for eternity" (Goethe). 

 We have 0u<m " a capability of effort " (the germ 

 of wilt) and capacity of distinguishing a right and 

 a wrong, or a higher and lower (the germ of con- 

 science). We never absolutely lose either. We 

 are what we are according to our use of these 

 capabilities. 



So in Aristotelian language. The vwtypwv 

 is free ; the ajcoXaoroc is a slave ; the t-y/cparrje and 

 the uKpanic; are winning or losing freedom. As 



tiously. He may think that he is doing wrong, or that it is doubtful 

 whether, after all, there is really an objection to his acting as he 

 has resolved to do. He may desire some one's good opinion which 

 he is throwing away, or some pleasure which he is sacrificing. 

 But, for all that, it is only the feeling, thought, and desire represented 

 by the act of will, that the man recognizes as for the time himself. 

 The feeling, thought, and desire with which the act conflicts are 

 influences which he is aware of, influences to which he is susceptible, 

 but they are not he." 



1 Janet, Theory of Morals, p. 400. 



