The Intended Meaning
Shahrur makes a decisive distinction between will and willing: will is the domain of possibilities and conscious freedom between negation and affirmation, whereas willing is the choice of one possibility from among these possibilities and then carrying it out. Therefore, will is broader than willing, because it precedes action and opens up its alternatives.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: Distinctive
- Argument movement: Will is broader than willing because it is the domain of possibilities prior to action.
- Central terms: will, willing, possibilities.
- Degree of centrality: Central.
The atom separates will from willing on a temporal and conceptual basis. Will opens up alternatives, while willing chooses one of them and carries it out, and thus human action is understood as responsible and preceded by multiple possibilities.
Reading Aids
- Muhammad Shahrur, the State and Society
- Freedom, the Human Being, and Responsibility
- Freedom regulates human action between will and willing
Basis
- Supporting text: “The difference between will and willing is fundamental: will is the domain of possibilities, and willing is the choice of one of them and its implementation.”
Basis Location in the Book
- Book: the State and Society.
- Location: in the first section of the book, within the explanation of human freedom.
- Type of basis: Close evidence.
- Marker for verification: Difference between will and willing
- Reading note: This passage is suitable because it explicitly distinguishes between will and willing and explains each of them; it is direct support for the idea.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: Structurally documented
- Meaning of the level: The atom relies on more than one witness or on a clear composition of closely related expressions.
- Reason for classification: The witnesses clearly explain the difference between will and willing.
- Limits of the reading: The formulation above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted textually.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is definitional; it sets a meaning or conceptual distinction that Shahrur relies on in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial Note
It is appropriate to link it directly to the idea of moral responsibility.