Will (volition) denotes unpredictable, endogenous behavior. It is an intricate function of thoughts, goals, and emotions that triggers an action.
But thoughts can be inaccurate, goals short-sighted, and emotions maladaptive.
Hence the concept of the True Will, which consists of three essential aspects:
- thinking rationally about oneself and the world around,
- viewing goals from a long-term perspective, and
- having adaptive emotions.
Epistemic rationality ensures that we are on a path to truth. The long-term perspective ensures that our Will is not easily diverted, but sufficiently stable over time. And the adaptiveness of emotions ensures that they are mostly positive (such as curiosity, gratitude, genuine pride, and grounded love), although they need not be (for example, grief might be adaptive despite its negative valence).
We can thus define True Will as unpredictable, endogenous behavior that emerges from an interplay of rational thoughts, longer-term goals, and adaptive emotions.
Leave a Reply