VOLITION • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Volition

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/voʊlˈɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Volition n.

The act of willing or choosing; the act of forming a purpose; the exercise of the will. "Volition is the actual exercise of the power the mind has to order the consideration of any idea, or the forbearing to consider it." "Volition is an act of the mind, knowingly exerting that dominion it takes itself to have over any part of the man, by employing it in, or withholding it from, any particular action."

The result of an act or exercise of choosing or willing; a state of choice.

The power of willing or determining; will.

Synonyms: Will; choice; preference; determination; purpose. Volition, Choice. Choice is the familiar, and volition the scientific, term for the same state of the will; viz., an "elective preference." When we have "made up our minds" (as we say) to a thing, i. e., have a settled state of choice respecting it, that state is called an immanent volition; when we put forth any particular act of choice, that act is called an emanent, or executive, or imperative, volition. When an immanent, or settled state of, choice, is one which controls or governs a series of actions, we call that state a predominant volition; while we give the name of subordinate volitions to those particular acts of choice which carry into effect the object sought for by the governing or "predominant volition." See Will.

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Etymology of 'Volition'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Volition" Quotes from Famous Books

... expelled and ruined. But if he served the Order well, he belonged to a vast incalculably-potent organism, of which he might naturally, after such training as he had received, be proud. The sacrifice of his personal volition and intelligence made him part of an indestructible corporation, which seemed capable of breaking all resistance by its continuity of will and effecting all purposes by its condensed sagacity. Nor was he in the hands of rigid disciplinarians. His peccadilloes ...

— Renaissance in Italy, Volumes 1 and 2 - The Catholic Reaction • John Addington Symonds

... for the dogs had become excited, the sheep were running wildly; but the girl's exquisite voice was as clear and calm as ever, and the big horse cantered over the broken ground, taking a big boulder now and again with lilting jump, as if he were going by his own volition and was well up in all the points of the game. After a time the dogs got the sheep into a heap, and the young girl rode round them; but something still seemed to be wrong, for she got down, and, leaving the horse quite free, made her ...

— At Love's Cost • Charles Garvice

... photographer is observant or not. It will remain upon the plate and may be reproduced under proper conditions. Such is the subconscious memory, and it is generated automatically by each of us during every moment of time, independently of our volition, in the following manner. ...

— The Rosicrucian Mysteries • Max Heindel

... of life. In it is involved all one's personal happiness as well as all his power for usefulness. To feel that this ever-flowing current of events is something entirely outside one's own choice or volition is to stand helpless—if not hopeless—before the spectacle of life. It is out of this aimless and chaotic state that resort is had to the seeking of all kinds of divination, omens, prophecies, and foreshadowings, with the ...

— The Life Radiant • Lilian Whiting

... end of her third year in America, wrote to the police appealing for help, but the lieutenant who in response to her letter visited the house, was convinced by Lair that she was there of her own volition and that therefore he could do nothing for her. It is easy to see why it thus becomes part of the business to break down a girl's moral nature by all those horrible devices which are constantly used by the owner of a white slave. Because life ...

— A New Conscience And An Ancient Evil • Jane Addams

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