conatus
- noun
- /kəˈneɪtəs/
- Archaic
:
conatus
- The anesthesiology faculty's existence, as we knew it, was threatened; with such a force threatening us, our conatus demanded self-preservation.
Examples
-
The conatus of a falling object can be observed as it accelerates toward the ground.
-
In philosophy, the concept of conatus explains why living beings strive to maintain their existence.
-
It is probably in this context that we are to place Leibniz's frequently made remark that a conatus is a state from which an act follows, if there is no hindrance. The need for the reason, then, is our need to remove (as best we can) obstacles to our development.
Academic text (1998) -
Carriero ("Spinoza on Final Causality") developed a fully "inertial" reading of Spinoza's notion of conatus that aims at avoiding any of its teleological implications.
Academic text (2016) -
Understanding conatus helps to clarify why physical bodies will continue in their state of motion unless acted upon by an external force.
Synonyms
14
6.5
A habit of not acting or making changes when action is needed
How Resistant
- Specialized
12
6.4
363
3.1
- Archaic
198
4.1
114
5.1
1
4.6
Surface Forms
Etymology
Conatus comes from the Latin verb conari 'to try', and older writers used it for a body's own 'tendency' to keep moving or resist change. That's why conatus was used to talk about the early idea of objects continuing their motion.