Wiktionary

volition

English edit

WOTD – 5 January 2018

Etymology edit

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”)).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

volition (countable and uncountable, plural volitions)

  1. A conscious choice or decision. [from early 17th c.]
    • 1655, Richard Baxter, “An Addition to the 11th Chapter of the 3d Part of the Saints Rest”, in Rich: Baxter’s Confesssion[sic] of His Faith, Especially Concerning the Interest of Repentance and Sincere Obedience to Christ, in Our Justification & Salvation. VVritten for the Satisfaction of the Misinformed, the Conviction of Calumniators, and the Explication and Vindication of Some Weighty Truths, London: Printed by R[obert] W[hite] for Tho[mas] Underhil, and Fra[ncis] Tyton, and are to be sold at the Anchor and Bible in Pauls Church-yard, and at the Three Daggers in Fleetstreet, →OCLC:
      […] 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.
    • 2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in The Guardian‎[1], London, archived from the original on 9 September 2017:
      [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.
    • 1841, Thomas C[ogswell] Upham, “Distinction between Desires and Volitions”, in A Philosophical and Practical Treatise on the Will. Forming the Third Volume of a System of Mental Philosophy, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, 82 Cliff-Street, →OCLC, § 54 (Volition may Exist in Respect to those Complex Acts which the Mind Can Embrace as One), page 104:
      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. (linguistics) A concept that distinguishes whether or not the subject or agent intended something.
    • 1988, Anna Wierzbicka, “FOR TO versus TO”, in The Semantics of Grammar (Studies in Language Companion Series; 18), Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, →ISSN, pages 126–127:
      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.) […]

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *welh₁-‎ (0 c, 15 e)

Translations edit

Further reading edit

French edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Medieval Latin volitiōnem (“will, volition”), from Latin volō (“to wish, to will”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

volition f (plural volitions)

  1. (philosophy, psychology) volition

See also edit

Further reading edit

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