Instinct
The existence of distinct instincts has long been debated. Proponents of instinct argue that we eat because of hunger, drink because of thirst, and so forth. Some have even argued for the existence of God based on this criterion, arguing that the object of every instinct has a referent in reality. The counterpoint of hunger is food; for thirst it is liquid; for the sex drive it is a mate. Instincts are not accepted as a reliable test because they are most often indistinct, variant and difficult to define. Additionally, universal instincts are so few that they offer little to the greater body of philosophy as a criterion.
Read more about this topic: Criteria Of Truth
Famous quotes containing the word instinct:
“Reason is sight. Instinct is touch. Intuition is smell.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“It is this admirable and immortal instinct for beauty which causes us to regard the earth and its spectacles as a glimpse, a correspondence of the beyond.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
“He that but fears the thing he would not know
Hath by instinct knowledge from others’ eyes
That what he feared is chanced.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)