The Will

The will is the result of man’s being intelligent. It is the intellectual appetite or the rational
appetite. It inclines us to the good that we grasp with our mind. What the desires or drives
are to the senses, the will is to the intellect. To want is the proper act of the will.
The will is as open as is the mind. It can want anything. It is not limited to wanting this thing
or set of things. It is inclined to what is “good”. Here good is not yet understood in the moral
sense of good, but it means whatever is appropriate for us.
Because of the nature of the will, it does not act independently of the intellect. Rather, it acts
simultaneously with the intellect. One wants what one knows and one knows well what one
wants. Love and knowledge are very closely related.
Acts of the will are concretized in behaviour. The will gives rise to voluntary actions. The
will becomes patent in action and it is present in action.
A voluntary act is an act that originates in the will and it therefore properly belongs to the
person. A voluntary act is also an act where the person is aware that he is acting, and that
they want the action.
Voluntariness leads to responsibility. A person can be asked an account of what he has done
because he did something willingly and freely. A person is responsible for his actions before
the law and the human community.
There are two stages in the act of the will.
1. The first is the stage of rational desire. This is the inclination of the will towards the
good that is apprehended by the mind. The good is considered as the end that must
be pursued.
2. The second stage is the choice. In this stage, the person decides what means to
employ and how to achieve the end.