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54 THE FOURFOLD BOOT. [CHAP. IV.
rior, consciously performed
actions of all animals. The
medium for motives is knowledge : an intellect is accord
ingly needed for susceptibility to motives. The true
characteristic of the animal is therefore the faculty of
knowing, of representing (Das Vorstelleri). Animals, as
such, always move towards some aim and end, which
therefore must have been recognised by them : that is to
say, it must have presented
itself to them as some
thing different from themselves, yet of which they are
conscious. Therefore the proper definition of the animal
would be : That which knows ; for no other definition
quite hits the mark or can even perhaps
stand the test of
investigation. Movement induced by motives is necessarily
wanting where there is no cognitive faculty, and movement
by stimuli alone remains, i.e. plant life. Irritability and
sensibility are therefore inseparable. Still motives evi
dently act in a different way from stimuli ;
for the action
of the former may be very brief, nay, need only be
momentary; since their efficacy, unlike that of stimuli,
stands in no relation whatever to the duration of that
action, to the proximity of the object, &c. &c. A motive
needs but to be perceived therefore, to take effect whereas
;
stimuli always require outward, often even inward, contact
and invariably a certain length of time.
This short sketch of the three forms of causality will
suffice here. They are more fully described in my Prize-
1
essay on Free Will. One thing, however, still remains to
be urged. The difference between cause, stimulus, and
motive, is obviously only a consequence of the various
degrees of receptivity of beings ; the greater their recepti
vity, the feebler may be the nature of the influence : a stone
needs an impact, while man obeys a look. Nevertheless,
both are moved by a sufficient cause, therefore with the
1 See
" Die beiden Grunclprobleme der Etkik," p. 30-34.