Feeling And Will

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

"Child Psychology III: The Kindergarten Child: Thought, Imagination and Feeling; Will and Morale" by Vilhelm Rasmussen was and continues to be a useful reference text that looks at the developing minds of young children. The book was written for parents, guardians, and teachers so that they can better understand the way a child processes things at the young and very impressionable kindergarten age when they are first learning about individual thought, complex imagination, and the idea of morality.

You may have an inclination to do it, but there is still a moment when you can decide to do it or not. This "moment of drama" is more puzzling than it first appears. When you are inclined to do something, are you related to your inclination as rider to horse? As ruler to subject? As thinker to thoughts? Schapiro shows that these familiar pictures fail to confront the central puzzle. Inclinations are motives with respect to which we are distinctively passive. But to be motivated is to be active—to be self-moved. How can you be passive in relation to your own activity? Schapiro puts forward an "inner animal" view, inspired by Kant, which holds that when you are merely inclined to act, the instinctive part of yourself is already active, while the rest of you is not. At this moment, your will is at a crossroads. You can humanize your inclination, or you can dehumanize yourself. Feeling Like It provides a concise and accessible investigation of a new problem at the intersection of ethics, philosophy of action, and philosophy of mind.