21

Classification of the Sci
21

II - #10
Of the Classification of the Sciences

Descriptive Definition of a Human Instinct, as the term will here be used.

An animal instinct is a natural disposition, or inborn determination of the individual's Nature (his "nature" being that within him which causes his behaviour to be such as it is), manifested by a certain unity of quasi-purpose in his behaviour. In man, at least, this behaviour is always conscious, and not purely smasmodic. More than that, unless he is under some extraordinary stress, the behaviour is always partially controlled by the deliberate exercise of imagination and reflexion; so much so that to the man himself his action appears to be entirely rational, so far is it from being merely sensori-motor. General analogy and many special phenomena warrant the presumption that the same thing is true of the lower animals, though they are undoubtedly far less reflective than man. Yet the adaptation of the behaviour to its quasi-purpose in some definite part overleaps all control. As an example elucidating the meaning of this,