In the philosophy of mind,[Crawford, S. (2012), Minds and mental phenomena: an introduction, 3: Varieties of mental phenomena, accessed 19 May 2023] and in psychology, conation refers to the ability to apply intellectual energy to a task to achieve its completion or reach a solution.[Reitan, R. M. and Wolfson, D., Conation: A Neglected Aspect of Neuropsychological Functioning, Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, Vol. 15, No. 5, 2000, pp. 443–453, accessed 19 May 2023] Conation may be distinguished from other mental phenomena, particularly cognition, and sensation,
Definitions
Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines conation as "an inclination (as an instinct or drive) to act purposefully".
[Merriam-Webster, conation, accessed 8 June 2023] The word comes from the
Latin words
conari (to try) and
conatio (an attempt).
Hannah
et al. define "moral conation" as "the capacity to generate responsibility and motivation to take moral action in the face of adversity and persevere through challenges".
History
Edwin Boring included a review of the history of the concept in his
History of Experimental Psychology, published in 1929, referring to James Ward's typology of cognition, conation, and feeling,
and to conation as
George Stout's "famous doctrine". The division of the mind into cognition, conation (or desire), and feeling was also described by
Immanuel Kant.
[Katz, L. D., Pleasure in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, revised 17 June 2016, accessed 23 May 2023] However, Norman Schur more recently included the word "conation" among his
1000 most challenging (or oft-forgotten or unknown) words in the
English language.
[Schur, N. (1990), 1000 most challenging words, New York: Ballantine Books] For
George Berkeley in his essay
De Motu, it was a term to be avoided, because "we do not rightly understand" its meaning.
[Kilne, A. D., George Berkeley: Philosophy of Science, in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed 23 May 2023]
Research
Neuropsychology researchers
Ralph Reitan and Deborah Wolfson looked at the performance of specific tasks which were "judged to require conative ability" in a research study published in 2000 and surmised that "conation, which has been a neglected dimension of behavior in neuropsychological assessment, may be the missing link between cognitive ability and prediction of performance capabilities in everyday life".
See also
Further reading
-
Moser, R. (2013), Conative in New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-2013: Ethics and Philosophy (Vol. 1), pp 298–299
-
Lindeman, D., Propositional Attitudes in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
