47 6 DISEASES OF VOLITION. SECT. XXXIV. i> 



which may refuh from them. In this cafe it is 

 evident, that we have a power to delay the pro- 

 pofed adion, or to perform it ; and this power of 

 choofmg, whether we (hall aft or not, is in com- 

 mon language expreflfed by the word volition, or 

 will. Whereas in this work the word volition means 

 fimpty the active ftate of the fenforial faculty in pro- 

 ducing mqtion in confequence of defire or averfion : 

 Whether we have the power of reftraining that ac- 

 tion, or not ; that is, whether we exert any actions 

 in confeque^ee of oppofite defires, or averfions,. or 

 not. 



For if the objects of defire or averfion are pre- 

 fent, there is no neceflity to inveftigate or compare 

 the means of obtaining them, nor do we always de- 

 liberate about their confequences ; that is, no deli- 

 beration neceflarily intervenes, and in confequenee 

 the power of choofing to aft or not is not exerted. 

 It is probable, that this twofold ufe of the word 

 volition in all languages has confounded the meta- 

 phyficians, who have difputed about free will and 

 neceflity. Whereas from the above analyfis it would 

 appear, that during our fleep, we ufe no voluntary 

 exertions at all ; and in our waking hours, that they 

 are the confequenee of defire or averfion. 



To will is to aft in confequenee of defire ; but 

 to defire means to defire fomething, even if that 

 fomething be only to become free from the pain, 

 which caufes the defire ; for to defire nothing is 

 not to defire ; the word defire, therefore, includes 

 both the adtion and the objedl or motive ; for the 

 objeft and motive of defire are the fame thing. 

 Hence to defire without an object, that is, without 

 a motive, is a folecifm in language. As if one fhould 

 afk, if you could eat without food, or breathe with- 

 out air. 



From this account of volition it appears, that con- 

 vulfions of the mufcles, as in epileptic fits, may in 

 the tommon fenfc of that word be termed involun- 



taryj 



