6. Faculties, not real beings.
These powers of the mind, viz., of perceiving, and of preferring, are usually called by
another name. And the ordinary way of speaking is, that the understanding and will are two faculties of the mind;
a word proper enough, if it be used, as all words should be, so as not to breed any confusion in men's thoughts, by
being supposed (as I suspect it has been) to stand for some real beings in the soul that performed those actions of
understanding and volition. For when we say the will is the commanding and superior faculty of the soul; that it is
or is not free; that it determines the inferior faculties; that it follows the dictates of the understanding,
etc.,--though these and the like expressions, by those that carefully attend to their own ideas, and conduct their
thoughts more by the evidence of things than the sound of words, may be understood in a clear and distinct
sense--yet I suspect, I say, that this way of speaking of faculties has misled many into a confused notion of so
many distinct agents in us, which had their several provinces and authorities, and did command, obey, and
perform several actions, as so many distinct beings; which has been no small occasion of wrangling, obscurity,
and uncertainty, in questions relating to them.
