Jonathan Edwards on the will

In Edwards' own words: [emphasis added]

... though a man may be said remotely to choose or prefer flying; yet he does not prefer, or desire, under circumstances in view, any immediate exertion of the members of his body in order to it; because he has no expectation that he should obtain the desired end by any such exertion and he does not prefer, or incline to, any bodily exertion under this apprehended circumstance, of its being wholly in vain. So that if we carefully distinguish the proper objects of the several acts of the will, it will not appear by this, and such like instances, that there is any difference between volition and preference; ... 1

Here Edwards states that a man might want to fly, while not trying to fly (like a bird; Edwards wrote this long before airplanes were invented). This seems like distinguishing between wanting to fly, and not exerting the will (or volition) to fly, so wanting or preferring is not the same as the will. Then Edwards claims the man, though he wants to fly, does not want to take actions (flapping his arms like a bird?) that he knows will be futile. This is then tacitly taken to justify the claim of identity between wanting (preferring) and willing (volition). 

Such a leap is not justified. At best, it merely shows the first argument to not be valid. 

Showing one argument against a thesis to be invalid is not proof of the thesis! Yet this is what Edwards is doing here. 

For example, let our thesis be that 1 plus 1 is 98, obviously incorrect. 

Now suppose someone argues against our thesis by claiming that “Grass is green; therefore 1 + 1 = 98 is wrong!”

Well, we can pretty easily convince most people that the argument against our thesis is invalid. 

But, does this mean that our thesis is correct?

Obviously not - otherwise, 1 + 1 really is 98!

As noted above, this is precisely what Edwards is doing here.

• 1Edwards, Jonathan (1703-1758) Part I. Section I. Concerning the nature of the will. Freedom of the Will. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/will.html