Insticts and Tendencies. Grounds and Consequences of an Anthropological Distinction

Abstract

The question of instinct is one of the most controversial in science, because it concerns the operations of animals, especially the more evolved ones, which are characterized by a high degree of complexity. Instinct is not only a much debated topic, but also a transdisciplinary one, as it must take into account the data of different sciences, like biology, physiology, psychology, and philosophy and, in the case of man, of other spiritual sciences, such as sociology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, religion, etc. In this short essay I will try to deepen the philosophical foundation of the animal instinct, as well as its differences with respect to human tendencies, from which a series of important consequences for philosophical anthropology and ethics can be discovered.