[ad. L. appetītiōn-em, n. of action f. appetīt-: see APPETITE sb. and -TION.] The direction of desire towards an object or purpose; longing for, craving, seeking after.
1603. Holland, Plutarch, 1124 (R.). Action requireth two things, to wit, the apprehension or imagination of that which is convenient and familiar: and the instinct or appetition driving unto the same.
1660. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 177/1. Philosophy … being the appetition of Divine Knowledge.
1775. Harris, Philos. Arrangem. (1841), 379. The cause of motion is appetition; of appetition, is privation.
1871. Calderwood, Kant’s Ethics, III. (ed. 3), 161. Appetition, when its inward ground of determination … depends upon the reason of the subject himself, is called Will.
