2. That the determinations of the Will are always in conformity to the
impulse of the Sensibility, that is, that its action is always in the
direction of the strongest feeling. Or,
3. In conformity to the dictates of the Intelligence, and the impulse of
the Sensibility combined, that is that the Will never acts at all,
except when impelled by the Intelligence and Sensibility both in the
same direction.
MEANING OF THIS PHRASE ACCORDING TO EDWARDS.
The following passage leaves no room for doubt in respect to the meaning
which Edwards attaches to the phrase, "the greatest apparent good." "I
have chosen," he says, "rather to express myself thus, that the Will
always is as the greatest apparent good, or as what appears most
agreeable, than to say, that the Will is _determined_ by the greatest
apparent good, or by what seems most agreeable; because an appearing
most agreeable or pleasing to the mind, and the mind's preferring and
choosing, seem hardly to be properly and perfectly distinct." Here
undeniably, the words, choosing, preferring, "appearing most agreeable
or pleasing," and "the greatest apparent good," are defined as identical
in their meaning. Hence in another place, he adds, "If strict propriety
of speech be insisted on, it may more properly be said, that the
_voluntary action_ which is the immediate consequence and fruit of the
mind's volition and choice, is determined by that which appears most
agreeable, than by the preference or choice itself." The reason is
obvious. Appearing most agreeable or pleasing, and preference or choice,
had been defined as synonymous in their meaning. To say, therefore, that
preference or choice is determined by "what appears most agreeable or
pleasing," would be equivalent to the affirmation, that choice
determines choice. "The act of volition itself," he adds, "is always
determined by that in or about the mind's view of an object, which
causes it to appear most agreeable," or what is by definition the same
thing, causes it to be chosen. The phrases, "the greatest apparent
good," and "appearing most agreeable or pleasing to the mind," and the
words, choosing, preferring, &c., are therefore, according to Edwards,
identical in their meaning. The proposition, "the Will is always as the
greatest apparent good," really means nothing more nor less than this,
that Will always chooses as it chooses. The famous argument based upon
this proposition in favor of the doctrine of Necessity may be thus
expressed. If the Will always is as the greatest apparent good, that is,
if the Will always chooses as it chooses, it is governed by the law of
Necessity. The Will is as the greatest apparent good, that is, it always
chooses as it chooses. Therefore it is governed by this law. By this
very syllogism, multitudes have supposed that the doctrine of Necessity
has been established with all the distinctness and force of
demonstration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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