Items related to Habit and Intelligence; A Series of Essays on the Laws...
Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1879. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... instinct, or primary automatism;--the desire of pleasure and the fear of pain correspond to the domain of voluntary action and secondary automatism. They generally but not always coincide.--It is true that in normal cases these two impulses coincide;--the impulse to self-preservation normally coincides with the impulse to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. In other words, the pleasureseeking instinct is generally guided aright by vital intelligence; though, as we have already remarked, there are exceptions to this law.1 Self-preservation includes that of the race.--It must be remembered that when we speak of self-preservation from the point of view of general biology, we include the preservation and perpetuation of the race, and consequently the reproductive and maternal instincts. Instinct comes under the law of Adaptation.--Through the effect of habit and natural selection, every living race constantly tends to become adapted to the external conditions of its existence; but this adaptation is perhaps never quite perfect. The unconscious intinctive tendency to self-preservation--in other words, to perform such actions as tend to the welfare of the organism--is a part of this adaptation; and the same adaptation is effected consciously when animals become sentient and conscious, and pursue their welfare no longer from a mere blind instinct, but from the impulse to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. The Automatist theory stated.--In many cases, however, and those the simplest, the impulse of self-preservation, and the impulse to avoid pain, not only coincide but are identical. In a case which, in my country at least, has become proverbial, namely that of "dropping a hot potato," the action belongs to both classes. A simple and elementary instance like this is the best...
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- PublisherGeneral Books LLC
- Publication date2012
- ISBN 10 0217258905
- ISBN 13 9780217258906
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages174
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