English

Noun

conation ‎(plural conations)

1. (philosophy) The power or act which directs or impels to effort of any kind, whether muscular or psychical.
   • 1899, George Frederick Stout, A Manual of Psychology, p. 234:

     Any pleasing sense-experience, when it has once taken place, will, on subsequent occasions, give rise to a conation, when its conditions are only partially repeated...

   • 1957, Lawrence Durrell, Justine:

     You can sit quiet and hear the processes going on, going about their business; volition, desire, will, cognition, passion, conation.

   • 1987, Marshall J. Farr, 'Cognition, Affect, and Motivation: Issues, Directions and Perspectives Toward Unity', in Conative and Affective Process Analysis, p. 347:

     [The] 'purposive conscious striving' aspect of conation is very likely a concept we need to treat separately if we are to study human motivation successfully...

Related terms

• conative

References

• conation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913