The will constitutes the inner, true and indestructible nature of man, but is itself without consciousness. Consciousness is conditioned by the intellect and is a function of the brain.

Self-consciousness contains a knower and a known. It could not exist if there were not in it a known opposed to the knower and vice versa. Consciousness that is pure intelligence is impossible. In self-consciousness, the known- the will, must be the first and original thing; the knower, on the other hand, is only secondary.

Consciousness is known positively as a property of animal nature. Its foundation is the immediate awareness of a longing and of its alternate satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Thus, in the case of an animal, the immediate awareness of its satisfied or unsatisfied desire constitutes the principal part of its consciousness. The human being, however, has a consciousness that nevertheless remains continuously and predominantly concerned and engrossed with representations and ideas.

The will itself is without knowledge but the understanding associated with it is without will. The will behaves like a body that is moved, the understanding like the causes that set it in motion since it is the medium of motives. The primacy of the will is clear when it becomes controlled by the intellect.

But the will grows tired; the will is untiring. All knowing is associated with effort and exertion; willing is man’s very nature, whose manifestations occur without any weariness. It is strongly excited, active, unbidden and of its own accord, it never ceases to will. The intellect is a mere function of the brain, which therefore precedes it just as the stomach precedes digestion and becomes exhausted in old age.