Concept
Instinct
Overview
inherent inclination of a living organism
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Instinct is discussed.
(2) That instinct is only adapted to achieve this end in the usual circumstances of the animal in question, and has no more precision than is necessary for success AS A RULE; (3) That processes initiated by instinct often come to be performed better after experience; (4) That instinct supplies the impulses to experimental movements which are required for the process of learning; (5) That instincts in their nascent…
Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; opens on it
Here we immediately reap the good fruits of our simple physiological conception of what an instinct is. If it be a mere excito-motor impulse, due to the preëxistence of a certain 'reflex arc' in the nerve-centres of the creature, of course it must follow the law of all such reflex arcs.
William James, Psychology
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; opens on it
In the case of organic matter, its primary difference from inorganic nature is its greater delicacy of internal mutual adjustment of minute parts and, in some cases, its emotional enhancement. Thus instinct, or this immediate adjustment to immediate environment, becomes more prominent in its function of directing action for the purposes of the living organism. The world is a community of organisms; these organisms…
Alfred North Whitehead, Symbolism, its meaning and effect
names the idea; states what it is; opens on it
Biologically this gregariousness is an analogy to multicellularity and as it were a continuation of it. From the standpoint of the libido theory it is a further manifestation of the inclination, which proceeds from the libido, and which is felt by all living beings of the same kind, to combine in more and more comprehensive units.[51] The individual feels 'incomplete' if he is alone. The dread shown by small…
Sigmund Freud, Group Psychology and The Analysis of The Ego
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; opens on it
Instincts comparable with habits, but different in their origin. Instincts graduated. Aphides and ants. Instincts variable. Domestic instincts, their origin. Natural instincts of the cuckoo, ostrich, and parasitic bees. Slave-making ants. Hive-bee, its cell-making instinct. Difficulties on the theory of the Natural Selection of instincts. Neuter or sterile insects. Summary.
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; opens on it
Philosophers who discussed Instinct
Related ideas
- Emotion
- Fear
- Game theory
- Human sexuality
- Positive psychology
- Learning
- Life
- Desire
- Organism
- Limbic system
- Natural selection
- Sigmund Freud
- Abraham Maslow
- Wilhelm Wundt
- Steven Pinker
- Behavior
- Consciousness
- Self-preservation
Place in the tradition
Part of Philosophy of war.