Instinct And Experience Classic Reprint

Author : William Swainson
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780267625215
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (252 download)

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Download or read book On the Habits and Instincts of Animals (Classic Reprint) written by William Swainson and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-02-02 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from On the Habits and Instincts of Animals Experience, and without a knowledge of the end in view, they are impelled to the performance of certain actions, tending to the well-being of the individual, and the preservation of the species. So far, then, and considered as merely a general definition, or rather description, of instinct, this opinion is perfectly satis factory; but it does not reach all the various bearings of this complicated subject. When we find some animals not only impelled to perform certain necessary func tions in a regular and unvarying manner, one gene ration following another in exactly the same track, and supplying their different wants in precisely the same manner, -but also that many others actually vary in what should seem to be the universal ordination of nature, and, as if in obedience to the deductions of reason, accurately adapting their plans to their circum stances, and their measures to those unexpected changes which accident may have wrought in their situation, with these facts upon record, we feel it is not sur prising that some who have written on the subject have gone a step further. They have, in fact, sought to solve the question, by admitting that, besides the faculty of instinct, animals may, in an inferior degree, also possess that of reason. But this admission brings with it fresh difficulties. If once We allow the least degree of reason to the brute creation, we must concede a portion of it altogether incompatible with their situation. Ive must admit that the bee, for instance, is guided in her wonderful Operations, by an acquaintance with those principles of science, which man has required time and reflection to discover. We must, in short, acknow ledge her both a geometrician and a philosopher and endue her with a perception of causes and effects, in consistent with the other habits and appearances of the creature, absolutely derogatory to the superior nature of man. (2) A much more probable solution of this question, and one far more conformable to the relative positions of man and brute, is afforded by the idea, that animals. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.