XVII 



THE HUMAN WILL 

 a. Introductory 



THE human will is a subject which, by reason 

 of its overwhelming theoretical and practical im 

 portance, must be treated at length in such a vol 

 ume as this. It is only within the last half -century 

 that we have had any scientific treatment of the 

 will. Philosophers have discussed it in all ages, 

 but always from a point of view of their^own, 

 involving either the results of introspection, an 

 inquiry into their own experience, or else a mere 

 logomachy, full of sound but signifying nothing 

 vox et prcetcrea nihil. 



The human will is now recognized by impartial 

 thinkers as a fit and proper subject for scientific 

 study. The theologians may continue to speak 

 as if psychology had stood still since the publica 

 tion of Kant s Critique of Practical Reason, more 

 than a century ago ; but, as Mr. Thomas Hardy has 

 lately observed, the determinist conception which, 

 we may note, is really as old as Buddhism is 

 steadily percolating into the popular mind, while 



185 



