174 ADAPTATION AND PROGRESS 



The inborn interests or needs as immediately related to organic 

 activity seeking their satisfaction, are called motives (Triebe). 



All the modal forms of the inborn interest come to expression in the indi- 

 vidual first as a result of the directing activity of the Urkraft working in the 

 life. The force derived from interest in the sense of the life-plan expresses 

 itself as motive (Trieb). Just as interest comes to view as feeling-tone 

 connected with sensation, so in real life it expresses itself as motive, so that 

 interest and life united stand over against the outer world. Motives enter 

 into consciousness and grip the circuit of motor-nerve activities. The 

 motives corresponding to the forms of development of the interest which 

 work in us are the material, egoistic, intellectual and moral motives. 1 



The relation of interest and motive is as follows: 



The material motive [corresponding to the physiological interest] has as 

 its function to maintain and develop the individual in the struggle for exist- 

 ence until with death the nerves cease their activity. It works largely in a 

 reflex, automatic manner. But with the development of consciousness it 

 loses its fundamental character and, subordinated to reflection, draws on a 

 larger circle of the world for the satisfaction of its strivings; now all the 

 impulses co-operate to develop the individual and maintain the race. The 

 material interest as thus developed we call the egoistic motive [corresponding 

 to the individual interest] which of all the motives exercises the most definite 

 influence on the social process. With the development of reason and the 

 enlargement of experience, this motive is increased to embrace what is of use 

 to every creature and to the social organization, and expanding by means of 

 the blood-bond, comes to include the race. . . . Upon this motive of self-inter- 

 est rests to an essential degree the origin, maintenance and development of 

 social individuals; it supports culture also in the direction useful to man. 

 This motive, moreover, is the chief force in all political events. When the 

 individual is able to identify self-interest with that of a social institution he 

 works all the harder to advance the conditions favorable to it, but sometimes 

 the welfare of the individual and society come into conflict, and while the 

 conflict is often solved instinctively, sometimes it comes into consciousness 

 in a way to stir up the intellect, and the intellectual motive which deals with 

 ideas. These ideas are all related to organic needs so the intellectual motive 

 is an outgrowth of the process of adaptation and arises because the organism 

 cannot adapt itself to the given situation on a lower plane of activity. . . . 



These motives, as the interests, tend to function harmoniously in accord- 

 ance with the principle of adaptation. When a person is lacking in the social 

 interest every idea is bound up with self-interest. Many times, it is true, 

 individual interest comes into the realm of intellectual struggle, but without 

 being able to yield its egoistic bias. Intellectual motives remain pure only 

 when they keep free from everything that has practical bearing on the social 

 struggle. On this account the intellectual motive must be accompanied by 

 the moral motive [corresponding to the social and transcendental interests] in 

 order that it may guard the objectivity of social interests. 2 



1 Erkenntnis, p. 254. 2 Ibid., p. 255 f. 



