Word: will Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English wille, from Old English willa (compare verb willian), from Proto-Germanic *wiljô (“desire, will”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, wish”). Cognate with Dutch wil, German Wille, Swedish vilja, Norwegian vilje. Pronunciation: /wɪl/, [wɪɫ], [wɪo̯], [wɪʊ̯] 1. One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention. Example: Of course, man's will is often regulated by his reason. 2. The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition. Example: Most creatures have a will to live. Example: The father chose the name and could change it later at his will. 3. One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands. Example: Eventually I submitted to my parents' will. Example: In the first place, although many people wanted nationalisation and it became the will of Parliament, there were many other people who did not want it, have never willingly accepted it, and never will. 4. Firmness of purpose, fixity of intent Example: Thus Mill’s case for the claim that happiness is the sole human end, put more carefully, is this: ‘Whatever is desired otherwise than as a means to some end beyond itself, and ultimately to happiness, is desired as itself a part of happiness, and is not desired for itself until has become so’ (1861a: 237). Nothing here assumed Hume’s view that every action must ultimately flow from an underived desire. That is a quite separate issue, and Mill’s view of it is closer to that of Kant or Reid than to that of Hume. He insists ‘positively and emphatically’ that the will is a different thing from desire; that a person of confirmed virtue, or any other person whose purposes are fixed, carries out his purposes without any thought of the pleasure he has in contemplating them, or expects to derive from their fulfilment. (1861a: 238) This distinction between purpose and desire is central to Mill’s conception of the will. When we develop purposes we can will against mere likings or aversions: ‘In the case of an habitual purpose, instead of willing the thing because we desire it, we often desire it only because we will it’ (1861a: 238). Every action is caused by a motive, but not every motive is a liking or aversion: When the will is said to be determined by motives, a motive does not mean always, or solely, the anticipation of a pleasure or of a pain…. A habit of willing is commonly called a purpose; and among the causes of our volitions, and of the actions which flow from them, must be reckoned not only likings and aversions, but also purposes. (1843: 842) The formation of purposes from desires is the evolution of will; it is also the development of character. Mill quotes Novalis: ‘a character is a completely fashioned will’ (1843: 843). Example: ...surely the link could not have been with Churchill the brilliant, gallant and steadfast wartime leader who, by dint of character, will and language, turned near defeat into victory. 5. A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes. Example: “Uncle Barnaby was always father and mother to me,” Benson broke in; then after a pause his mind flew off at a tangent. “Is old Hannah all right—in the will, I mean?” 6. That which is desired; one's wish. Labels: archaic Example: I auow by this most sacred head / Of my deare foster child, to ease thy griefe, / And win thy will [...]. 7. Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.) Labels: archaic Example: He felt a great will to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.