Single Idea 17196

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / c. Features of mind]

Full Idea

By the will I understand a faculty of affirming or denying, but not a desire; a faculty, I say, by which the mind affirms or denies that which is true or false.

Gist of Idea

The will is not a desire, but the faculty of affirming what is true or false

Source

Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], II Pr 48)

Book Reference

Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics', ed/tr. White,WH/Stirling,AH [Wordsworth 2001], p.87


A Reaction

This is to be compared with the empiricist tendency to say that there are nothing but desires. On the whole I'm with Spinoza here. Hobbes thinKs of actions in the world, but Spinoza sees the will as operating in the process of reasoning.

Related Ideas

Idea 2384 Those actions that follow immediately the last appetite are voluntary [Hobbes]

Idea 17198 Will and intellect are the same thing [Spinoza]