- Active power(describing the will's nature)
- A capacity or ability to do something or make something happen, as opposed to just passively receiving change from outside.
- Asymmetry of causal kind(describing the difference between will and intellect)
- A situation where two things work in different fundamental ways—not just in degree or strength, but in their basic nature or type.
- Intellectual operation(what the will is being contrasted with)
- Mental activities involving reasoning, thinking, or processing information with the mind's rational faculty.
- Originating its own act(describing what the will's power does)
- Being the source or starting point of an action, rather than having that action caused by something else.
- Scotus(The philosopher whose reasoning is being analyzed)
- A medieval philosopher (John Duns Scotus, 1266-1308) known for his detailed logical arguments about God, free will, and how things exist.
- irreducible(Personalist anthropology; distinguishes personhood from mere biological individuality)
- That which is unique and unrepeatable in each human being, by virtue of which a person is not merely an individual of a species but a personal subject.
- self-motion(Used by Scotus to describe both volitional action and certain physical processes such as free fall)
- Motion or action caused by the moving or acting thing itself, rather than by an external determinant or end