CHAPTER XVIII.

RATIONAL APPETITE, DESIRE, FREE-WILL.

As in sensuous life besides cognitive states we met with manifestations of conative activity, so in the higher grade of consciousness we find Appetency of a spiritual kind, which takes the form of Rational Desire or Volition. The term Desire is not exclusively confined to inclinations of the supra-sensuous order, for many yearnings aroused by the imagination of sensuous pleasures are so called. This, however, is but another instance of the intimate manner in which superior processes are mingled with inferior modes of psychical activity.

DESIRE. Desire may be defined as a mental state of longing or want aroused by the representation of some absent good. It is a form of consciousness superior to and more refined than that of appetite in the modern sense. Unlike the latter, it is not a mere bodily need, nor is it limited to a single mode and definite range of activity. Nevertheless, in common with appetite it involves a species of discontent and longing. Complete analysis of Desire understood in its proper meaning reveals to us three elements: a representation by the imagi

nation of some end or object not actually enjoyed; the appreciation of this object as good—in harmony with our nature, or some portion of it; and a resulting feeling of attraction towards the object. The two former are, perhaps, most accurately described as conditions, the last as the essence of desire. Thus I represent to myself the winning of a prize, I apprehend such an event as pleasurable, and I am then conscious of a state of longing for its attainment. While Appetite has its birth in sensation, Desire proceeds from the activity of the imagination. The range of the latter is consequently vast, and in a rational creature, who can conceive boundless good, it is incapable of being satisfied by any finite object.

Desire, strictly so called, must be carefully distinguished from volition or voluntary election. The state called Desire is necessarily aroused in some degree by the representation of a possible gratification, but the mind possesses the power of consenting to or resisting the attraction. In spite of our being drawn towards the desirable or desired object we can say, No. We can sometimes, at all events, struggle against the solicitation, and seek to banish it from our mind. It is in this act of rejection or ratification, in this veto or fiat, that the freedom of the rational conative faculty is exhibited. The term Desire, it is true, is also applied in a wide sense to the state of longing for some pleasure, when such longing has been freely consented to and indulged; but this lax use of the word should be carefully distinguished from Desire

understood as equivalent to involuntary tendency towards any apprehended gratification. We have thus three different grades of orectic or conative activity: Appetite in the modern narrow interpretation, or corporeal cravings present throughout all sentient life; Desire or yearnings involving imagination, and awakened by representation of absent good; and, lastly, Volition manifested in free surrender or resistance to involuntary desires.1

1 It has been much discussed in recent years whether all forms of appetency are only towards pleasure and from pain. Mill, Dr. Bain, and determinists generally, maintain the affirmative. Desiring a thing and finding it pleasant, aversion to it and thinking of it as painful, are phenomena entirely inseparable, or rather two parts of the same phenomenon; in strictness of language two different modes of naming the same psychological fact-to think of an object as desirable (unless for the sake of its consequences), and to think of it as pleasant, are one and the same thing; and to desire anything except in proportion as the idea of it is pleasant is a physical and metaphysical impossibility." (Mill, Utilitarianism, p. 57.) Seemingly unselfish impulses are merely the effect of association. Virtue, like money, originally desired solely as a means to happiness, is later on pursued as an end in itself. This doctrine has been effectively refuted by numerous philosophers from Butler to Drs. Martineau and Sidgwick: (1) Appetites proper are cravings whose primary object is the exercise of an activity, not the pleasure thence proceeding-e.g. the formal object of Hunger is food, not the subjective delight of eating; though of course by a reflex act this pleasure may be made an end. (2) Many desires proper are primarily extra-regarding, and not aiming at the agent's own pleasure-e.g. the parental and social affections, sympathy, compassion, gratitude, wonder, the desire of knowledge, and the mental activities of pursuit. (3) The aim of rational volition is certainly not always pleasure. We can choose right for its own sake against the maximum pleasure. The formal object of appetite is the good, not solely the pleasant; it includes bonum honestum as well as bonum delectabile. We may further urge (a) the hedonistic paradox, viz. that the deliberate pursuit of pleasure-the only rational end of egoistic ethics-is suicidal. Thus, the pleasures attached to benevolence, self-sacrifice, pursuit of knowledge, field sports, &c., are annihilated if consciously set as the end of our act. (b) The assertion that all these now apparently disinterested impulses are originally the creation of pleasant associations is an appeal from consciousness to ignorance, and is by the nature of the case incapable of proof. (c) The most careful observation of children

Desires may be classed as ultimate or fundamental, and derivative. The most fundamental desires are the yearning after happiness, the impulse toward perfection or self-development, and the instinct of self-preservation. The longing for happiness is the most universal principle manifested in the appetitive life of the soul. Happiness in general we are necessitated to desire, but we are free in the selection of the form of it which we will seek. Malum qua malum cannot be the object of any human wish. Of not less importance is the inclination towards self-development. There is in man an inherent impulse towards activity, which is realized in the use of his various powers. The craving is not, however, satiated by the mere exercise of the faculty; there is in addition the desire to enlarge its range and increase its force. This desire of self-realization varies in both direction and intensity in different men, and at different periods of life; but the inclination in some form or other is universal. The child, in whom potentiality is at its maximum, naturally exhibits this impulse in the most conspicuous manner. Both physically and intellectually it is always trying to extend its power; and the ever-recurring "why" exemplifies this primary appetite, just as well as the "play-impulse," or the longing to test the capabilities of its tiny arms and legs. The Emotion or Desire of Power is, as we shall see in a future

confirms the view that they are subjects of many extra-regarding impulses. (Cf. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, Bk. I. c. iv.; Martineau, Types of Ethical Theory, Pt. II. Bk. I. c. v. and Bk. II. c. i. § 3.)

chapter, but a development of this appetency. The instinct of self-preservation is universal throughout animal existence. Though not necessarily identical with either of the other two, it frequently coincides with both. There have been, of course, occasions when man has set at nought this radical principle of his nature, and deliberately compassed his own destruction. Still, in such cases we have merely the temporary triumph of the inclination towards happiness, which on its negative side appears as aversion from misery real or imaginary.

The derivative impulses proceed from these fundamental springs of action; or perhaps it would be more accurate to say they are special forms or modes in which the fundamental principles reveal themselves. To the tendency towards happiness belong the yearning for immortality, the love for society, the desire of esteem, and the like. Special forms of the impulse towards perfection and selfrealization are the desire for knowledge, the moral sentiment, and the artistic instinct. Finally, the impulse of self-preservation is exhibited in the organic appetites, in anger, in antipathy, and in several other emotions. The relations between the more complex forms of emotion and these elementary modes of appetency will be discussed in a future chapter.

The physical appetites as the guardians of animal existence and well-being show themselves earliest in life. Desire proper, which is a more complex state involving a representative element, appears at a later stage. Its first manifestations