Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 03:14:30 +0200 (CEST)
From: janstr-AT-chan.nl (Jan Straathof)
Subject: Re: PB and New Concepts


Carsten wrote:

>.... In the sense of the quote by Spinoza cited by Jan, "conatus"
>seems to mean nothing other than an 'instinct of self-preservation', ...

yes, I like that darwinian and freudian twist in your description;
and further more one can easily appreciate Spinoza's thesis of
'conatus sese praeservandi' as foreshadowing Fichte's "Ich",
as well as Schopenhauer's "Welt als Wille", Nietzsche's "Wille
zur Macht" and even Bergson's "Elan Vital".

It is important to note however that in Spinoza's sense 'conatus'
is more an ontological property than an antropological one,
connoting a prime tendency (power) in beings-as-such, and is
in this way coming quite close to Bhaskar's phrase that  "in the
last instance to be is just to be able to do".

thanks,
jan


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