In the

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the Body (biology), body and the Reality, external world. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a ...

,Crawford, S. (2012)
Minds and mental phenomena: an introduction
3: Varieties of mental phenomena, accessed 19 May 2023 and in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

, 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 Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

, and

sensation Sensation (psychology) refers to the processing of the senses by the sensory system. Sensation or sensations may also refer to: In arts and entertainment In literature *Sensation (fiction), a fiction writing mode *Sensation novel, a British ...

, and has been described as "neglected" in comparison with these phenomena. It may overlap to some extent with the concept of

motivation Motivation is an mental state, internal state that propels individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often understood as a force that explains why people or animals initiate, continue, or terminate a certain behavior at a particul ...

, but "the ability to focus and maintain persistent effort" has been seen as more pertinent to conation.

Definitions

Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Incorporated is an list of companies of the United States by state, American company that publishes reference work, reference books and is mostly known for Webster's Dictionary, its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary pub ...

's online dictionary defines conation as "an inclination (as an instinct or drive) to act purposefully". The word comes from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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 Edwin Garrigues (Garry) Boring (October 23, 1886 – July 1, 1968) was an American experimental psychologist, Professor of Psychology at Clark University and at Harvard University, who later became one of the first historians of psychology. A ' ...

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 George Frederick Stout (; 1860–1944), usually cited as G. F. Stout, was a leading English philosopher and psychologist. He was the father of the philosopher Alan Stout. Biography Born in South Shields on 6 January 1860, Stout studied ...

's "famous doctrine". The division of the mind into cognition, conation (or desire), and feeling was also described by

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

. However, Norman Schur more recently included the word "conation" among his ''1000 most challenging'' (or oft-forgotten or unknown) words in the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

. For

George Berkeley George Berkeley ( ; 12 March 168514 January 1753), known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland), was an Anglo-Irish philosopher, writer, and clergyman who is regarded as the founder of "immaterialism", a philos ...

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 The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia with around 900 articles about philosophy, philosophers, and related topics. The IEP publishes only peer review, peer-reviewed and blind-refereed original p ...

'', accessed 23 May 2023

Research

Neuropsychology Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology focus on how injuries or illnesses of the brai ...

researchers Ralph M. 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".

References

{{reflist Concepts in the philosophy of mind Psychological concepts

Definitions

History

Research

See also

Further reading

References