IV. 



Some Definitions of Instinct. 



THE phenomena of instinct are of interest both to biologists and to 

 psychologists; who respectively approach them, however, from 

 different standpoints. Whether the divergences of opinion concern- 

 ing these phenomena, and the diversities of definition of the terms 

 "instinct" and "instinctive," are mainly due to this cause, it is 

 perhaps difficult to decide. That marked differences do exist is only 

 too obvious. 



i. Relation of Instinct to Consciousness. — "Instinct," says 

 Professor Claus, 1 " may be rightly defined as a mechanism which 

 works unconsciously, and is inherited with the organisation, and 

 which, when set in motion by external or internal stimuli, leads to the 

 performance of appropriate actions, which apparently are directed by 

 conscious purpose." Here, then, we have instinct defined as 

 essentially unconscious. Mr. Herbert Spencer 2 regards instinct in its 

 higher forms as probably accompanied by a rudimentary conscious- 

 ness ; but he does not consider the presence of consciousness 

 essential. Professor Baldwin speaks 3 of a "low form of consciousness 

 which has not character enough to be impulsive " ; while Professor 

 Calderwood^ holds that instinctive activities cannot be attributed to 

 mental power. " The entire chapter on Instinct in Darwin's ' Origin 

 of Species ' must," he says, " be read in an altered form, consequent 

 on the deletion of the references to ' mental faculties.' " 



On the other hand, Romanes commences his definition of instinct 

 with the words 5 : " Instinct is reflex action into which there is 

 imported the element of consciousness." " The term comprises," he 

 says, " all those faculties of mind which are concerned with conscious 

 and adaptive action, antecedent to individual experience." " The 

 stimulus," he adds, " which evokes an instinctive action is a 

 perception." Professor Wundt also emphasises the conscious 

 accompaniments of instinctive activities, which, he says, 6 " differ from 



1 " Text-book of Zoology." Eng. Trans., vol. i., p. 94. 



2 " Principles of Psychology," ch. xii. 



8 " Text-book of Psychology." Feelings and Will, p. 308. He also speaks of 

 instincts as " inherited motor intuitions," p. 311. 



4 " Evolution, and Man's Place in Nature," p. 190. 



5 " Mental Evolution in Animals," p. 159. 



G " Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology," Eng. Trans., p. 401. 



2 A 



