Will, Voluntary, Volunteer

'Voluntary' behavior is typically characterized as one or more of the following: 1. 'Intentional', i. e. the outcome corresponds to some mental image that guided the performance; 2. 'Self-controlled', e. g. one was not intoxicated; 3. 'Chosen', i. e. the course of action was preferred to some feasible alternative; 4. 'Uncompelled', i. e. one was not forced to act by some external influence. Common to these concepts is that each is a retrospective characterization, and, hence, each is subtly teleological. In contrast, the related term, 'to volunteer', better expresses the essence of Will--self-activation, without ulterior motive. So, to formulate a 'voluntary' action as that for which one 'volunteers', while not suitable as a formal definition, still accurately emphasizes that the most focal feature of such a process is at its initiation, not at its termination.