The diseases of the will / by Th. Ribot.

  • Théodule-Armand Ribot
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The diseases of the will / by Th. Ribot. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    type. They pass into action with a fatality and rapid- ity almost equal to those of reflexes. These are the ideas which “take hold of us.” The old psychology, affirming a fact of common experience, said in its own language that the intellect acts upon the will only through the mediation of sensibility. Leaving aside those entities, this signifies that the nervous state corre- sponding to an idea expresses itself so much the better in movements according as it is accompanied by those other nervous states, whatever they may be, which cor- respond to sentiments. The phraseology thus changed, it can be understood why, in the case before us, we are so near the preceding phase, and why the nervous action is more energetic and affects a greater number of elements. Most of the passions, as soon as they transcend the level of mere appetite, enter into this group as principles of action. The whole difference is one of degree, according as the affective elements predomi- nate in the complex thus formed or the reverse.* 2) The second group is the most important for us. It represents the rational activity, the will in the usual sense of the word. The conception is followed by an act after a short or long deliberation. It will be found, upon reflexion, that the greater part of our actions fall under this type, leaving aside habits and the forms already described. Whether I rise up in order to take * The relative independence of the idea and the feeling as causes of move- ment is clearly established by certain pathological cases. It sometimes hap- pens that the idea of a movement is by itself alone incapable of producing it, but if emotion ensue it is produced. A man stricken with paralysis cannot move his arm by any effort of will; while it will be observed to be violently agitated under the influence of an emotion caused by the arrival of a friend. In cases of softening of the spinal marrow inducing paralysis, an emotion, or a question addressed to the patient, may cause most violent movements in the lower members over which his will has no control.
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