What does conatus mean?
Conatus is a noun denoting an intrinsic striving or effort by which a thing endeavors to persist in its own being. Borrowed directly from Latin — where it meant an effort or undertaking — the term entered English primarily through seventeenth-century philosophy. Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza both placed it at the center of their systems: for Spinoza, the conatus is the very essence of each individual, the drive underlying every appetite, emotion, and action, since all beings seek above all to continue existing. In modern usage the word appears almost entirely in scholarly contexts — philosophy, intellectual history, and theoretical biology — where it names the self-preserving tendency of organisms or systems. Its register is formal and technical, and it lends writing an air of precision when discussing fundamental drives without reducing them to mere instinct. For readers of Spinoza, it is an indispensable concept.
nounAn innate inclination or effort of a thing to persist in its own being and continue in existence; especially, in Spinoza's philosophy, the fundamental striving by which every being maintains itself.
- In philosophy, especially Spinozism: the inherent tendency or effort of a being to persevere in and maintain its own existence.
- More generally: an instinctive impulse or striving toward self-preservation.
"For Spinoza, every living creature is governed by its conatus — the relentless drive to preserve its own existence."
"The philosopher argued that hunger, ambition, and fear are all expressions of the same underlying conatus."
"In Hobbes's account of human nature, the conatus toward self-preservation underlies all our choices."
The plural is identical to the singular, following the pattern of Latin fourth-declension nouns ending in -us (like status); context or phrasing must indicate number.
"Each organism has its own conatus, and these many conatus together shape the natural world."
Spinoza built his entire ethics on one idea: everything that exists fights to keep existing — and he gave that fight a name borrowed straight from Latin.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of conatus
Conatus derives directly from Latin, where it was the noun of action formed from conor, 'to undertake or strive', itself rooted in the verb nasci ('to be born') via the participle natus — so the word literally carries the sense of something born toward an end. English adopted it as a technical term in the seventeenth century, chiefly through translations of Hobbes and later Spinoza. It shares its deeper Latin roots with related terms such as conation and conative, and more distantly with words from the nasci family like innate and natal.
Related word forms
How conatus is actually used
A learned, philosophical term used almost exclusively in academic or intellectual discussion. It carries no everyday colloquial use and is typically encountered in readings of Spinoza, Hobbes, Leibniz, or modern discussions of their thought.
Easily confused with conatus
Conation refers to the faculty of striving or volition in general psychology, while conatus denotes a specific entity's inherent drive to persist in its own being.