In The Passions of the Soul (1649), René Descartes (1596–1650) offered a pivotal account of human motivation by linking his famous mind–body dualism with a theory of volition that emphasised the active power of the will. For Descartes, the mind (res cogitans) and body (res extensa) were distinct substances, yet they interacted through the passions, bodily states that the mind could interpret and guide.

Volition, or the will, was the mind’s capacity to initiate action by affirming or pursuing ideas, and Descartes saw this faculty as central to motivation: although passions could move us, they became sources of strength and direction only when regulated by rational judgment. This early integration of cognition, emotion, and bodily response profoundly shapes modern understandings of motivation by highlighting that wellbeing emerges when individuals develop reflective control over emotional impulses. Similarly, societies flourish when citizens cultivate informed self-governance and channel their passions toward collective good. The need for healthy emotional self-management is highlighted in Life Theme Analysis (Gibson, 2000), where an approach to building emotional self-management involving analysis and understanding of emotional impulses is presented. Such understanding is part of the bedrock of civilised society.

From a Christian perspective, René Descartes’ (1649) dualism, which distinguishes the immaterial mind (res cogitans) from the material body (res extensa), offers a partial affirmation of the biblical view that human beings possess both a physical and a spiritual dimension (Genesis 2:7; Matthew 10:28). Descartes further argued that volition, or the will, is a faculty of the soul that enables free choice and is broader than the intellect, explaining moral error as the misuse of freedom when the will exceeds what the mind clearly understands (Descartes, 1649/1985).

Christian theology has often agreed that human beings exercise genuine moral agency, reflecting the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27), yet many theologians have criticised Cartesian dualism for separating soul and body too sharply, whereas Scripture presents the person as an integrated unity whose ultimate hope is bodily resurrection rather than escape from the body (1 Corinthians 15:42–44). Influential Christian thinkers such as Augustine (354–430) and Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) affirmed the soul’s spiritual nature while emphasizing the substantial unity of the human person, and contemporary philosophers such as Alvin Plantinga (1932– ) have defended forms of substance dualism compatible with Christian doctrine.

Thus, while Descartes’ account of volition highlights human responsibility and freedom, Christian theology generally modifies his dualism by grounding personhood in the holistic creation of humanity by God and the redemptive restoration of both soul and body through Christ.