85 



physiological to the psychological: here, however, he has re- 

 versed his position; probably owing to the influence of the 

 Utilitarian School which was so influential at that time; and 

 now, physiological development is placed under the modifying 

 influence of the psychical factors of pleasure and pain, unless, 

 indeed, Spencer would make pleasure and pain merely in- 

 cidental to a process which would have taken place equally 

 well without consciousness. 



4. THE WILL. 



From the same physiological standpoint, Spencer treats 

 the problem of the Will. The general nature of the process 

 in which Will is manifested may be put briefly in Spencer's 

 words, as follows: 



"When the automatic actions become so involved, so 

 varied in kind, and severally so infrequent, as no longer to be 

 performed with unhesitating precision when, after the re- 

 ception of one of the more complex impressions, the appro- 

 priate motor changes become nascent, but are prevented from 

 passing into immediate action by the antagonism of certain 

 other nascent motor changes appropriate to some nearly 

 allied impression ; there is constituted a state of consciousness 

 which, when it finally issues in action, displays what we term 

 volition. Each set of nascent motor changes arising in the 

 course of this conflict, is a weak revival of the state of con- 

 sciousness which accompanies such motor changes when act- 

 ually performed is a representation of such motor changes 

 as were before executed under like circumstances is an idea 

 of such motor changes. We have, therefore, a conflict be- 

 tween two sets of ideal 1 motor changes which severally tend 

 to become real, and one of which eventually does become real; 

 a rl this passing of an ideal motor change into a real one, we 

 distinguish as Will." 2 



In other words, in its simplest form, the order is from action 

 in the environment to sensory change, to impression, to its 

 accompanying conscious state (feeling of pleasure or pain) 

 and from thence to motor change, and finally again to action. 

 In its more complex state, the external impression gives rise 

 to different conflicting sets of motor changes which revive 

 the feelings connected with the original impressions. In 

 addition, an immense number of other psychical states are 

 partially aroused, "some of which unite with the original 

 impression in exciting the action, while the rest combine as 



Italics mine. 



2 " Principles of Psychology" 218. 



