What does conation mean?
Conation is the mental faculty of striving, willing, and deliberately working toward a goal. In classical psychology, the mind was divided into three fundamental powers: cognition (knowing), affection (feeling), and conation (striving) — making conation the term for everything in us that pushes toward action rather than merely perceiving or feeling. The word derives from the Latin verb conari, 'to attempt or endeavor', and its philosophical cousin is the conatus familiar from the thought of Spinoza and Leibniz. Today conation survives mainly in academic contexts — philosophy of mind, motivation research, and discussions of volition — while everyday language favors plainer synonyms such as drive, willpower, or determination. Its rarity is part of its appeal: using conation signals precision about a distinction most people sense but seldom name, namely that wanting to know something and wanting to do something are different operations of the mind.
nounThe mental faculty or act of striving, willing, or deliberately endeavoring toward a goal; in psychology, one of the three traditional divisions of the mind alongside cognition and affection.
- The conscious impulse or faculty of striving, willing, and purposeful effort toward an end, traditionally classed alongside cognition and affect as a fundamental division of mental activity.
"Her tireless conation to master the cello impressed even her most demanding teachers."
"The philosopher argued that all human behavior arises from an interplay of cognition and conation."
"Despite repeated setbacks, his conation never wavered; he simply found new ways toward the same goal."
Rarely used in the plural; the singular covers nearly all real usage, though plural forms occasionally appear in older philosophical texts referring to multiple acts of striving.
"Medieval philosophers catalogued countless distinct conations behind every voluntary act."
Psychologists once split the mind into three powers — thinking (cognition), feeling (affection), and striving (conation) — but only the first two ever became household words.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of conation
Conation comes from the Latin verb conari, meaning 'to try, attempt, or endeavor', via the medieval and early modern philosophical tradition. It entered English scholarly writing around the seventeenth century, when philosophers sought Latin terms for the mind's faculties. Its closest relative is the noun conatus ('effort, impulse'), which gained lasting fame through Spinoza's doctrine that every thing strives to persevere in its own being. The adjective form is conative.
Related word forms
How conation is actually used
A formal, technical word encountered chiefly in philosophy, psychology, and academic writing on motivation. It carries no strong emotional connotation and can sound archaic or clinical in everyday speech, where terms like 'drive' or 'willpower' are preferred. The stress falls on the second syllable.
Easily confused with conation
Cognition refers to mental processes of knowing and thinking (perception, memory, reasoning), whereas conation refers to the striving and willing that directs action toward a goal.