Conatus
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In the philosophy of
Baruch Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...
, conatus (; :wikt:conatus;
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
for "effort; endeavor; impulse, inclination, tendency; undertaking; striving") is an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself. This "thing" may be mind, matter, or a combination of both, and is often associated with God's will in a pantheist view of nature. The ''conatus'' may refer to the instinctive "will to live" of living organisms or to various metaphysical theories of motion and
inertia Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law o ...
. Today, ''conatus'' is rarely used in the technical sense, since classical mechanics uses concepts such as
inertia Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law o ...
and
conservation of momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass ...
that have superseded it. It has, however, been a notable influence on later thinkers such as
Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...
and
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...
.


Definition and origin

The Latin '' cōnātus'' comes from the verb '' cōnor'', which is usually translated into English as, "to endeavor"; used as an abstract noun, ''conatus'' is an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself. Although the term is most central to Spinoza's philosophy, many other Early Modern philosophers philosophers including
René Descartes René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathe ...
,
Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mat ...
, and
Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book '' Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influ ...
made significant contributions, each developing the term differently. Whereas the medieval
Scholastic Scholastic may refer to: * a philosopher or theologian in the tradition of scholasticism * ''Scholastic'' (Notre Dame publication) * Scholastic Corporation, an American publishing company of educational materials * Scholastic Building, in New Y ...
philosophers such as Jean Buridan developed a notion of ''impetus'' as a mysterious intrinsic property of things, René Descartes (1596–1650) developed a more modern, mechanistic concept of motion which he called the ''conatus.'' For Descartes, in contrast to Buridan, motion and rest are properties of the ''interactions'' of matter according to eternally fixed mechanical laws, not dispositions and intentions, nor as inherent properties or "forces" of things, but rather as a unifying, external characteristic of the physical universe itself. Descartes specifies two varieties of the ''conatus'': ''conatus a centro,'' or a theory of
gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the str ...
and ''conatus recedendi'' which represents
centrifugal forces In Newtonian mechanics, the centrifugal force is an inertial force (also called a "fictitious" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It is directed away from an axis which is parallel ...
. Descartes, in developing his First Law of Nature, also invokes the idea of a ''conatus se movendi'', or "''conatus'' of self-preservation".a generalization of the principle of
inertia Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law o ...
, which was formalized by
Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the g ...
and made into the first of his three Laws of Motion fifty years after the death of Descartes."
Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book '' Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influ ...
criticized previous definitions of ''conatus'' for failing to explain the origin of motion, defining ''conatus'' to be the infinitesimal unit at the ''beginning'' of motion: an inclination in a specified direction. Furthermore, Hobbes uses conatus to describe cognition functions in the mind, describing
emotion Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
as the beginning of motion and the will as the sum of all emotions, which forms the ''conatus'' of a body and its physical manifestation is the perceived "will to survive". In a notion similar that of Hobbes,
Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mat ...
differentiates between the ''conatus'' of the body and soul, primarily focusing however on the concept of a ''conatus'' of body in developing the principles of
integral calculus In mathematics, an integral assigns numbers to functions in a way that describes displacement, area, volume, and other concepts that arise by combining infinitesimal data. The process of finding integrals is called integration. Along with di ...
to explain Zeno's paradoxes of motion. Leibniz later defines the term ''monadic conatus'', as the "state of change" through which his monads perpetually advance. This ''conatus'' is a sort of instantaneous or "virtual" motion that all things possess, even when they are static. Motion, meanwhile, is just the summation of all the ''conatuses'' that a thing has, along with the interactions of things. By summing an infinity of such ''conatuses'' (i.e., what is now called
integration Integration may refer to: Biology * Multisensory integration * Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technolo ...
), Leibniz could measure the effect of a continuous force.


In Spinoza's philosophy

Conatus is a central theme in the philosophy of Benedict de Spinoza (1632–1677), which is derived from principles that Hobbes and Descartes developed. Contrary to most philosophers of his time, Spinoza rejects the dualistic assumption that mind, intentionality, ethics, and freedom are to be treated as things separate from the natural world of physical objects and events. One significant change he makes to Hobbes' theory is his belief that the ''conatus ad motum'', (''conatus'' to motion), is ''not'' mental, but material. Spinoza also uses ''conatus'' to refer to rudimentary concepts of
inertia Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law o ...
, as Descartes had earlier. According to Spinoza, "each thing, as far as it lies in itself, strives to persevere in its being" (''
Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ...
'', part 3, prop. 6). Since a thing cannot be destroyed without the action of external forces, motion and rest, too, exist indefinitely until disturbed. His goal is to provide a unified explanation of all these things within a naturalistic framework, man and nature must be unified under a consistent set of laws;
God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
and
nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...
are one, and there is no
free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to a ...
. For example, an action is "free", for Spinoza, only if it arises from the essence and ''conatus'' of an entity. However, an action can still be free in the sense that it is not constrained or otherwise subject to external forces. Human beings are thus an integral part of nature. Spinoza explains seemingly irregular human behaviour as really "natural" and rational and motivated by this principle of the ''conatus''. Some have argued that the ''conatus'' consists of happiness and the perpetual drive toward perfection. Conversely, a person is saddened by anything that opposes his ''conatus.'' Others have associated "desire", a primary affect, with the ''conatus'' principle of Spinoza. Desire is then controlled by the other affects, pleasure and pain, and thus the ''conatus'' strives towards that which causes joy and avoids that which produces pain.


Later usages and related concepts

After the development of
Classical mechanics Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classical ...
, the concept of a ''conatus,'' in the sense used by philosophers other than Spinoza," an intrinsic property of all physical bodies, was largely superseded by the principle of
inertia Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law o ...
and
conservation of momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass ...
. Similarly, ''Conatus recendendi'' became
centrifugal force In Newtonian mechanics, the centrifugal force is an inertial force (also called a "fictitious" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It is directed away from an axis which is parallel ...
, and ''conatus a centro'' became
gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the str ...
. However, Giambattista Vico, inspired by
Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...
, explicitly rejected the principle of inertia and the laws of motion of the new physics. For him, ''conatus'' was the essence of human
society A society is a Social group, group of individuals involved in persistent Social relation, social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority an ...
, and also, in a more traditional, hylozoistic sense, as the generating power of movement which pervades all of nature, which was composed neither of atoms, as in the dominant view, nor of extension, as in Descartes, but of ''metaphysical points'' animated by a ''conatus'' principle provoked by God.
Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...
(1788–1860) developed a principle notably similar to that of Spinoza's ''conatus''. This principle, ''Wille zum Leben'', or of a "Will to Live", described the specific phenomenon of an organism's self-preservation instinct. Schopenhauer qualified this, however, by suggesting that the Will to Live is not limited in duration, but rather, "the will wills absolutely and for all time", across generations. Rejecting the primacy of Schopenhauer's Will to Live,
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...
(1844–1900) developed a separate principle the Will to Power, which comes out of a rejection of such notions of self-preservation. In systems theory, the Spinozistic conception of a ''conatus'' has been related to modern theories of autopoiesis in biological systems. However, the scope of the idea is definitely narrower today, being explained in terms of chemistry and neurology where, before, it was a matter of metaphysics and theurgy.


Notes


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Further reading

* * * * {{Featured article Baruch Spinoza Concepts in metaphysics Concepts in the philosophy of mind Determinism Mental processes Metaphysics of mind Psychological concepts Systems theory