III. III.] 



ACTIONS OF THE WILL. 



181 



unbines with the seusational faculty, and free-will movements 



[■are conjoined with the sentient actions of the sensational desires 



|for the attainment of the object. In this way, the will urges 



[a lover to go to his beloved, since, at the same time, the instinct 



rorks for its satisfaction, and develops the sentient actions 



lecessary thereto (289) . If, on the contrary, in a case of this 



dnd, the object is desired on the one hand and avoided on the 



)ther, there arises a conflict between the sensational faculty 



[[Sinnlichkeit] and the will (the flesh, § 88, warring against 



the spirit) ; in this, the victory is usually on the side of the 



msational faculty, because its incitements are the stronger 



(251). Thus the instinct of love will be victorious, in the case 



where our intellectual motives are in conflict therewith, and 



teach us to avoid the beloved object. Video meliora prohoque, 



deteriora sequor. 



338. When the conception of the object of the mil is either 

 sensational, or of that character that it cannot be produced 



[solely by the conceptive force, the satisfaction of the will does 

 not take place as in the above cases (336) ; nor can the will 



^perfectly perform the free-will movements desired (335). Thus 

 the most imperious will completes nothing to which external 

 sensation is necessary, so long as no external impression takes 

 place ; nor can the mind force itself into the belief of an 

 absurdity, nor can any effort of the muscles fulfil the desires of 

 the will, when we would leap over a tower, because such 



^.fulfilment is an impossibility. 



339. All our intellectual motives are intimately associated 

 I with sensational stimuli, and all the intellectual desires and 



aversions are also sensational (65, Baumgarten^s ' Metaphysics,' 

 § 512). Consequently, our will is not so free, that it does not 

 either combine its efforts with the sensational, or antagonise 

 them (337) ; and must, therefore, in some degree receive its 

 contentment from them. We therefore do nothing by a pure 

 will; the flesh has always a part in our efforts, conclusions, 

 and virtues, because it always makes them either more agreeable 

 or more difficult. 



340. The muscles are the mechanical machines which are 

 under the influence of the will, and the origins of their nerves 

 must be stimulated by the efforts of the cerebral forces, excited 

 by the intellectual desires and aversions (164, i). 



