On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, and On the Will in Nature: Two Essays (revised edition)
Schopenhauer · en
for a quite specially determined way of life, for the element in which
the prey dwells, for the pursuit, the overcoming, the crushing and
digesting of that prey,--all this, we say, proves, that the animal's
structure has been determined by the mode of life by which the animal
desired to find its sustenance, and not _vice versa_. It also proves,
that the result is exactly the same as if a knowledge of that mode of
life and of its outward conditions had preceded the structure, and as
if therefore each animal had chosen its equipment before it assumed a
body; just as a sportsman before starting chooses his whole equipment,
gun, powder, shot, pouch, hunting-knife and dress, according to the
game he intends chasing. The latter does not take aim at the wild boar
because he happens to have a rifle: he took the rifle with him and not
a fowling-piece, because he intended to hunt the wild boar; and the ox
does not butt because it happens to have horns: it has horns because
it intends to butt. Now, to render this proof complete, we have the
additional circumstance, that in many animals, during the time they
are growing, the effort of the will to which a limb is destined to
minister, manifests itself before the existence of the limb itself,
its employment thus anticipating its existence. Young he-goats, rams,
calves, for instance, butt with their bare polls before they have any
horns; the young boar tries to gore on either side, before its tusks
are fully developed which would respond to the intended effect, while
on the other hand, it neglects to use the smaller teeth it already
has in its mouth and with which it might really bite. Thus its mode
of defending itself does not adapt itself to the existing weapons,
but _vice versa_. This had already been noticed by Galenus[226] and by
Lucretius[227] before him. All these circumstances give us complete
certainty, that the will does not, as a supplementary thing proceeding
from the intellect, employ those instruments which it may happen to
find, or use the parts because just they and no others chance to be
there; but that what is primary and original, is the endeavour to
live in this particular way, to contend in this manner, an endeavour
which manifests itself not only in the employment, but even in the
existence of the weapon: so much so indeed, that the use of the weapon
frequently precedes its existence, thus denoting that it is the weapon
which arises out of the existence of the endeavour, not, conversely,
the desire to use it out of the existence of the weapon. Aristotle
expressed this long ago, when he said, with reference to insects armed
with stings:[228] διὰ τὸ θυμὸν ἔχειν ὅπλον ἔχει (_quia iram habent,
arma habent_), and further on, generally speaking:[229] Τὰ δ' ὄργανα
πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ἡ φύσις ποιεῖ, ἀλλ' οὐ τὸ ἔργον πρὸς τὰ ὄργανα (_Natura
enim instrumenta ad officium, non officium ad instrumenta accommodat_).
From which it follows, that the structure of each animal is adapted to
its will.