The Difference between Reason and Will

CHAPTER 7
 The students should:
be able to differentiate knowing and actually executing a
good moral decision; and
judge their own moral behavior in terms of planning
and execution in important moral experiences.
Para kanino ka
bumabangon?
Two ways of considering human acts
• Actually we can exhaust the possible views of man’s
activity by looking at human actions from two angles:
From the angle of science, looking for the answer to the
question “how”?

From the angle of philosophy, looking for the answer to

the question “why”?
FROM THE ANGLE OF SCIENCE, science examine
human actions. And this is quite proper. Man is a living
organism, he is an animal, all of his actions create
some little ripple on the pool of physical nature.
Physiology can quite properly examine and correlate
the results of its examination of the blood, the nerves,
the muscles, the brain of man in his different activities.
Experimental psychology can properly compare the
common elements in human and animal activity it can
search out the physical basis of neuroses, the springs
of hate and fear, anger, despair and all the rest.
Scientist can measure the weigh, make up averages,
statistics, ratios, quotas, and be entirely within their scope.
All this is invaluable contribution to human knowledge.

FROM THE ANGLE OF PHILOSOPHY

The investigation of the empirical or scientific angle is
something we can safely leave to someone else whom we
consult from time to time as the occasion demands-or
perhaps not at all.
For the key to successful living lies precisely in the
humanity of these actions of ours, in their subjection
to our control that angle we cannot leave to anyone
but ourselves; that element must permeate every
action in every instant of its existence and is our
business every moment of our lives. Whether we
like it or not we must be philosophers.
Will, generally, is the faculty of the mind that selects, at the
moment of decision, a desire among the various desires
present; it itself does not refer to any particular desire, but
rather to the mechanism responsible for choosing from
among one's desires. Within philosophy, will is important as
one of the parts of the mind, along with reason and
understanding. It is considered central to the field of ethics
because of its role in enabling deliberate action.
Reason is the capacity of consciously making sense of
things, establishing and verifying facts, applying logic,
and adapting or justifying practices, institutions, and
beliefs based on new or existing information.

It is closely associated with such characteristically human

activities as philosophy, science, language, mathematics
and art, and is normally considered to be a distinguishing
ability possessed by humans. Reason, or an aspect of it, is
sometimes referred to as rationality.
Reasoning is associated with thinking, cognition, and intellect.
The philosophical field of logic studies ways in which humans
reason formally through argument. Reasoning may be
subdivided into forms of logical reasoning (forms associated
with the strict sense):
1. deductive reasoning
2. inductive reasoning
3. abductive reasoning;
4. and other modes of reasoning considered more informal,
such as intuitive reasoning and verbal reasoning.
Deductive reasoning- or deductive logic is the process of
deduction from one or more statements to reach a
logically certain conclusion. It goes in the same direction
as that of the conditionals and links premises with
conclusions.

Inductive reasoning is a logical process in which multiple

premises, all believed true or found true most of the time
are combined to obtain a specific conclusion. It is often
used in applications that involve prediction, forecasting or
behaviour .
Abductive reasoning is a form of logical inference which starts
with an observation or set of observations then seeks to find
the simplest and most likely explanation for the observations.
Abductive Reasoning
Incomplete observations ____ best prediction (may be true)
Deductive reasoning
General rule ____ specific conclusion (always true)
Inductive reasoning
Specific observation ____ general conclusion (maybe true)
Benefits of reasons

• Justify decisions
• Support explanations of natural phenomena
• Can be given to explain the actions (conduct) of
individuals.
Using reason, or reasoning, can also be described more
plainly as providing good, or the best, reasons. For example,
when evaluating a moral decision, "morality is, at the very
least, the effort to guide one's conduct by reason—that is,
doing what there are the best reasons for doing—while
giving equal [and impartial] weight to the interests of all
those affected by what one does.
Story behind the controls of human action
• As we look into the control-room of human activity, we can
see two great dynamos- the intellect and the will of man.
The work of the first is to know; that of the second is to
desire, to move, to enjoy. The will of itself is blind; like
every other appetite in every other creature, it trails long
following and limited by knowledge. The intellect, of itself,
is powerless t move itself or anything else.
Yet from the combination of these two, we
have that distinctive human product.-
movement with knowledge, controlled or
deliberate movement, that is the means by
which happiness is obtained. Not
movement alone, not knowledge alone, but
controlled movement makes a success of
life.
 Intellect + will = movement with
knowledge and controlled or deliberate
movement
• It is impossible to expect a movement from the will
until some object of desire is letdown, yet there be
no movement to knowledge, or to anything else,
without having resource to the source of all
movement in man, his will.
General principle- reason is the form of human activity
• It is necessary to remember that reason is the form, as it were
the soul, of human acts; as the soul of man gives life to his
body, so the reason of man gives humanity to his acts.
• it is because he can know the universal that man can choose
between particulars; because he knows the relation of the
tools to the job in hand, because he knows why he is placing
this particular action, man is in control of his activity- and only
man.
• From the very beginning, then reason must lead the way; until
reason has placed its stamp upon he coin of human activity.
 Keep in mind that when we speak of the beginning of human
activity, we are talking of its end or goal. For it is because of the
end goal that human activity starts at all.
With reference to the goal or end:

Apprehension
Volition
Conation
enjoyment
 • Counsel
• Judgement
With • Command The machinery of human
referenc activity is not unlike a gasoline engine. We
e to the have an infallible automatic starter in nature;
means once started, the interaction of intellect and
on the will is like the steady interaction of the
part of different cylinders of the gas engine. When our
the human engine is running smoothly, it is difficult
intellect: to separate the action of intellect from that of
will, so quickly and intimately do they run into
one another.
On the part of the will:
• Consent
• Election
• Execution
If we follow the mental processes of a little girl
investing the coin which has just been advanced
from the family treasury, we shall have an accurate
account of the process of controlled use of means to
an end. This little girl knows that money exist to be
spent, the end is clear, desirable and desired, indeed
intended.
 ACTS OF INTELLECT AND ACTS OF WILL
Dealing with an end
1. Simple apprehension 2. Simple volition
3. Judgement proposing the end 4. intention
Fruition or enjoyment of end
Dealing with means
A. In Intentional Order
5. counsel 6. Consent
7. judgment 8. election
B. In order of execution. it
9. Command or precept 10. Active use
Passive use in the executing faculties
Thank you and God bless us
all.