CHAPTER IV. 



EXAMINATION OF SOME OBJECTIONS. 



PARTISANS of modern animal psychology will 

 perhaps raise a "vehement opposition" to our dis- 

 tinction of instinct and intelligence. This has previ- 

 ously been done by some critics of our former pub- 

 lications." 1 However, a vehement opposition makes 

 impression only by the weight of its arguments. And 

 this is but just and fair, for objections do not deserve 

 consideration further than they are supported by solid 

 reasons. These objections are prompted not so much 

 by logical difficulties as by a certain indefinite feeling 

 which has gradually developed under the influence of 

 popular psychology and become nowadays the fashion- 

 able standard of criticism. A clear analysis of psycho- 

 logical concepts is avoided, because the possible con- 

 sequences are dreaded. Apprehension evidently exists 

 that the close approximation of man and animal, both of 

 whom are generally regarded as essentially of the same 

 nature, might appear to be an illusion ; and, perhaps, it is 

 anticipated that between man and brute a wide and mo- 

 mentous gulf might be revealed which demands of man a 

 far higher degree of morality than is taught in "Brehm's 

 Thierleben." For this reason some desire to banish all 

 critically tenable distinctions between instinct and in- 



l ) For instance in the "Naturwissenschaftlichen Rundschau," 7 

 (1892), No. 12, in the review of our book, "Die zusammengesetzten 

 Nester und gemischten Kolonien der Ameisen," 



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