Moral deliberation starts with conflict of desires. If there is no conflict, moral deliberation is not needed. These desires are the motives behind most of our voluntary actions. And it is due to these that the question of ethical right and wrong arises.
Thus, it is necessary to make a psychological analysis of them. When one experiences a want, one desires some object to fulfill it.
At the base of it is dissatisfaction with the existing situation, as well as a tendency to attain some more elevated situation. It is a complex mental state and has all the three elements cognitive, co native and affective.
Image Source: i.ytimg.com
Cognitive Aspect:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
In the cognitive aspect is the thought of that object which removes the want. This is the difference between appetite and desire. Along with this, in the desire is the thought of the means for possessing the object. In the conception of desire, man compares the present and the future.
Consequently, the greater the dissimilarity between the real and the ideal, the greater will be the intensity of the desire to possess the desired object.
Affective and Conative Aspect:
In the affective process there is a painful of wanting the object hi its absence and there is also a pleasant feeling by the hope of pleasure upon its attainment in the conative aspect is the acute motivation to remove the want and a tendency towards action.
Distinction between Desires, Need and Hunger:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
In this way desire is different from want because the latter is unconscious. It is also different from appetite because in it there is no thought of good or evil and no clear consciousness of the goal. In it (appetite), there is on cognition because it is merely motor
When the cognitive aspect invades appetite, it becomes desire. Thus desire is a contemplative mental disturbance. In it man is conscious of tune, place, circumstances, right and wrong etc. Ethical thought is based on desires.
Desire, Wish and Will:
Desires conflict and stronger desires triumph in this conflict. This effective desire is called wish. In the words of Mackenzie, “Briefly then, we may say that wish is a dominant single desire whereas the will depends on the dominance of a universe of desire.
Will:
The function of the will is to control and direct the natural tendencies of men. The condition of a man hi the absence of will can be inferred by seeing a drunkard. The drunkard has no control upon his mental or physical activities.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Consequently, he sometimes uses profane language and sometimes lays hi the gutter. His life is worse than that of an animal. He is the slave of his tendencies. In the absence of will, man loses his mind and dances as his Lusts direct him.
Mind can be controlled only through will. Character remains organized and strong by the power of will.
It is said that a woman has on character, meaning that they have a lower will power or are found working under different master sentiments at different times, not that they are more corrupt.
The secret of the great works is this will-power which great men possess and it would be no fallacy to assert that it is will-power which makes a man great.
The peculiar quality of man is his intellect His ethical superiority lies in controlling the baser instincts and leanings towards good works with a will, according to this intelligence.
The animals lack will-power and that is why they change with the environment Man has changed the environment by his will-power. This will-power is the foundation of his civilization, his basic power.
But will itself do not motivate any activity. It is a normative power. It gives form, not content the content is the desire, inclinations etc.
In the words of James Seth,
“The function of will is not to create, but to direct and to control.”
The path of file animal is predetermined, his life is preconditioned, and his hunger and instincts show him the way. Man’s future is uncertain and he has to discover his own path, to understand his goal and to attempt to attain that goal. Herein lies his difficulties, but his superiority lies in it too. He finds the path of morality with this. And it is through this that he has evolved science, civilization, culture, etc. In volition three activities can be seen first all the tendencies are stopped, secondly, the different ones are thought over and finally there is selection.
In this way, attention oscillates in the activity of willing or volition and finally one path is chosen.