Concept
Self-preservation
Overview
Self-preservation is a behavior or set of behaviors that ensures the survival of an organism. It is thought to be universal among all living organisms.
Self-preservation is essentially the process of an organism preventing itself from being harmed or killed and is considered a basic instinct in most organisms. Most call it a "survival instinct". Self-preservation is thought to be tied to an organism's reproductive fitness and can be more or less present according to perceived reproduction potential. If perceived reproductive potential is low enough, self-destructive behavior (i.e., the opposite) is not uncommon in social species. Self-preservation is also thought by some to be the basis of rational and logical thought and behavior.
The opposite of self-preservation is self-destructive behavior.
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 Self-preservation is discussed.
Our first step must obviously be to classify, in the order of their importance, the leading kinds of activity which constitute human life. They may be naturally arranged into:--1. those activities which directly minister to self-preservation; 2. those activities which, by securing the necessaries of life, indirectly minister to self-preservation; 3. those activities which have for their end the rearing and…
Herbert Spencer, Essays on education and kindred subjects
names the idea; states what it is
Physiologists should bethink themselves before putting down the instinct of self-preservation as the cardinal instinct of an organic being. A living thing seeks above all to _discharge_ its strength: "_self-preservation" _ is only one of the results thereof.--Let us beware of _superfluous_ teleological principles!--one of which is the whole concept of "self-preservation."[4] The most-fundamental--and most primeval…
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Will to Power
states what it is; names the idea
All that metaphysics has said about the nisus of Being to conserve its essence and all that a mythological psychology has said about a special instinct of self-preservation is a cover for the persistent self-assertion of habit. Habit is energy organized in certain channels. When interfered with, it swells as resentment and as an avenging force.
John Dewey, Human Nature and Conduct
states what it is; opens on it; names the idea
In all these things--in the choice of food, place, climate, and recreation--the instinct of self-preservation is dominant, and this instinct manifests itself with least ambiguity when it acts as an instinct of defence. To close one's eyes to much, to seal one's ears to much, to keep certain things at a distance--this is the first principle of prudence, the first proof of the fact that a man is not an accident but a…
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Ecce Homo Complete Works, Volume Seventeen
states what it is; opens on it; names the idea
Always, then, acts are called good or bad according as they are well or ill adjusted to ends; and whatever inconsistency there is in our uses of the words arises from inconsistency of the ends. Here, however, the study of conduct in general, and of the evolution of conduct, have prepared us to harmonize these interpretations.
Herbert Spencer, The Data of Ethics
states what it is; names the idea
Related ideas
- Ritual
- Fear
- Artificial intelligence
- Hygiene
- Life
- Fitness (biology)
- Organism
- Nation
- Pain
- Instinct
- Gene
- Stuart J. Russell
- Adrenaline
Place in the tradition
Part of Meaning of life.