-
Articles/Ads
Article EXTRACT FROM AN ESSAY ON INSTINCT. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Extract From An Essay On Instinct.
Of instincts that can accommodate themselves to particular circumstances , many instances may be g iven in the human species : but these fall more particular under the third class . Those animals are most perfect , Avhose sphere of knowledge extends-to the greatest number of objects . When interrupted in their opperations , they knoAv how to resume their labour , and accomplish their purposes by different means . Some animals have no other powers but those of extending and
contracting their bodies . Others pursue their prey with intelligence and . success .. In Senegal the ostrich sits on her eggs in the ni ght only , leaving them in the day to the heat of the sun ; at the Cape of Good-Hope , where the climate is colder , she sits on them day and ni ght . Rabbits , when domesticated , are not inclined to burrow . Bees augment the size of their cells when necessary . AAvasp , in carrying out a dead
companion , if he finds it too heavy , cuts off the head , and carries it out at twice . In countries infested with monkies ,. birds , which in other countries build in trees , suspend their nests at the ends of slender twigs . A cat , when shut in a closet , has been known to open the latch with its paivs . The third class are those which are improvable by experience .
. Our author thinks that the superiority of man over other animals seems to depend chiefl y on the number of instincts Avith which he is endowed . Traces of every instinct which he possesses are discoverable in the brute creation , hut no particular species enjoys the . Avhole . Most human instincts receive improvement from experience and observation , and are capable of a thousand modifications . One . instinct
counteracts and modifies another , and often extinguishes the original motive to action . Fear is often counteracted by ambition or resentment . Anger by fear , shame , contempt , or compassion .. Of modified ,, compounded , and extended instincts , there are many examples . Devotion is an extension of the instinct of love to the author of the universe . Superstition the instinct of fear , extended to imaginary objects . Hope is the instinct of love , directed to an improper , object . In this manner all the modified , compounded , or extended passions may be traced back to their original instincts .
The instincts of brutes is likcAvise improvable by experience , Avitness the dog , the horse , the elephant , & c . From ' these examples Mr . Smellie argues , that instinct is an original quality of the mind , which in man , as well as in other animals , may be improved , modified , and extended by experience . Sensation implies ( says he . ) a sentiment , principle , or mind . What-, ever feels , therefore , is mind . Of course all animals are endoAved Avith
mind . But the minds of animals have different powers , and thosepowers are oppressed by peculiar actions . The structure of their bodies is addapted to the pOAvers of their minds , and no mature animal at- ; tempts actions Avhich nature has not enabled it to perform . This view of instinct is simple ; it removes every objection to the existence of mind in brutes , and unfolds all their actions , by referring them to motives perfectly similar to those by which man is actuated . There , is perhaps a greater difference between the mental povKts of some
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Extract From An Essay On Instinct.
Of instincts that can accommodate themselves to particular circumstances , many instances may be g iven in the human species : but these fall more particular under the third class . Those animals are most perfect , Avhose sphere of knowledge extends-to the greatest number of objects . When interrupted in their opperations , they knoAv how to resume their labour , and accomplish their purposes by different means . Some animals have no other powers but those of extending and
contracting their bodies . Others pursue their prey with intelligence and . success .. In Senegal the ostrich sits on her eggs in the ni ght only , leaving them in the day to the heat of the sun ; at the Cape of Good-Hope , where the climate is colder , she sits on them day and ni ght . Rabbits , when domesticated , are not inclined to burrow . Bees augment the size of their cells when necessary . AAvasp , in carrying out a dead
companion , if he finds it too heavy , cuts off the head , and carries it out at twice . In countries infested with monkies ,. birds , which in other countries build in trees , suspend their nests at the ends of slender twigs . A cat , when shut in a closet , has been known to open the latch with its paivs . The third class are those which are improvable by experience .
. Our author thinks that the superiority of man over other animals seems to depend chiefl y on the number of instincts Avith which he is endowed . Traces of every instinct which he possesses are discoverable in the brute creation , hut no particular species enjoys the . Avhole . Most human instincts receive improvement from experience and observation , and are capable of a thousand modifications . One . instinct
counteracts and modifies another , and often extinguishes the original motive to action . Fear is often counteracted by ambition or resentment . Anger by fear , shame , contempt , or compassion .. Of modified ,, compounded , and extended instincts , there are many examples . Devotion is an extension of the instinct of love to the author of the universe . Superstition the instinct of fear , extended to imaginary objects . Hope is the instinct of love , directed to an improper , object . In this manner all the modified , compounded , or extended passions may be traced back to their original instincts .
The instincts of brutes is likcAvise improvable by experience , Avitness the dog , the horse , the elephant , & c . From ' these examples Mr . Smellie argues , that instinct is an original quality of the mind , which in man , as well as in other animals , may be improved , modified , and extended by experience . Sensation implies ( says he . ) a sentiment , principle , or mind . What-, ever feels , therefore , is mind . Of course all animals are endoAved Avith
mind . But the minds of animals have different powers , and thosepowers are oppressed by peculiar actions . The structure of their bodies is addapted to the pOAvers of their minds , and no mature animal at- ; tempts actions Avhich nature has not enabled it to perform . This view of instinct is simple ; it removes every objection to the existence of mind in brutes , and unfolds all their actions , by referring them to motives perfectly similar to those by which man is actuated . There , is perhaps a greater difference between the mental povKts of some