Affective Tendencies 393 



Essentially then the will is nothing else than a true 

 and proper affective tendency which checks other affective 

 tendencies because it is more far-sighted and which in its 

 turn impels to action like all affective tendencies. "There 

 is present in the action of will some desire of a good to 

 be obtained or of an evil to be shunned, which imparts 

 its driving force." 46 



Two extreme instances deserve special mention, for 

 they include all other cases. The first of these may 

 again be divided into two. 



Sometimes one of the affective tendencies is so strong 

 and persistent that it constantly outweighs all others; it 

 checks them if it is contrary to them and strengthens them 

 if it is in harmony with them. Such an "hypertrophied" 

 affective tendency is called "passion" (Ribot, Renda). If 

 it is directed towards some present aim we say that it 

 overthrows the will because it successfully withstands the 

 inhibitive effect of every other affective tendency directed 

 towards the future; if on the other hand its own aim is 

 in the future, an "ideal" whose attainment may require 

 the work of a lifetime, then we say that the individual 

 is persevering, stubborn, unyielding, endowed with an 

 iron will, because every other opposed affective tendency 

 directed toward an immediate end dashes in vain 

 against it. 



On the other hand it sometimes happens that the two 

 conflicting affective tendencies are evenly balancd. At 

 one moment the far-sighted tendency gains greater force 

 and seems to triumph by turning the mind to new conse- 

 quences in the future, but the next instant the short- 

 sighted tendency discovers new or more clearly recog- 



46 Maudsley, The Physiology of Mind, p. 389. London, Mac- 

 Millan, 1876. 



