volition

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *welh₁-der. Proto-Italic *welō Medieval Latin volō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Medieval Latin -tiō Medieval Latin volitiōbor. French volitionder. English volition From French volition, from Medieval Latin volitiō (“will, volition”), from Latin volō (“to wish; to want; to mean or intend”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose; to want”)) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns relating to some action or the result of an action) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-tis (suffix forming abstract or action nouns from verbs)).

1. A conscious choice or decision.

   “[…] And as the Understanding doth at once apprehend it as Good Abſolutely, or in ſome Reſpect, and Evil in other reſpects, and Comparatively a Leſs Good; ſo doth the Will at once continue to Love or Will it ſo farre as it is Apprehended as Good, and to Nill and Reject it as inconſiſtent with a Greater Good, or a hinderer of it. But if it fall out that the Inconſiſtency of theſe is not diſcerned or believed, or but Imperfectly, then may the Will by a Practical Volition Will them both.”

   “[Antonio] Conte has broken the mould further with the suggestion he might escape the [Roman] Abramovich cleaver, becoming the first of his line to leave by his own volition.”

2. The mental power or ability of choosing; the will.

   “Out of all the factors that can influence a person’s decision, none can match the power of his or her own volition.”

   “The volition may be in accordance with the desire or not; it may be in accordance with the moral feelings, and wholly at variance with the desires; but in both alike the desires and volitions are distinct.”

3. A concept that distinguishes whether or not the subject or agent intended something.

   “English has not one FOR TO construction but several. These several constructions are interrelated and form a chain, or rather a family, of constructions, with identical or similar components recurring in more or less similar configurations. […] The composition of this family can be represented as follows: (1) Personal volition (e.g. I want very much for Peter to be present.) (2) Volition expressed in directives (e.g. He gave orders for his family to be summoned.) (3) Impersonal (unspecified) volition (e.g. It is necessary for Peter to be present.) […]”