y eat in complete unconsciousness; but we
perform the actions of eating just as we should if we were conscious,
and they cease when our hunger is appeased. What we call "consciousness"
seems to be a mere spectator of the process; even when it issues orders,
they are usually, like those of a wise parent, just such as would have
been obeyed even if they had not been given. This view may seem at first
exaggerated, but the more our so-called volitions and their causes are
examined, the more it is forced upon us. The part played by words in all
this is complicated, and a potent source of confusions; I shall return
to it later. For the present, I am still concerned with primitive
desire, as it exists in man, but in the form in which man shows his
affinity to his animal ancestors.

Conscious desire is made up partly of what is essential to desire,
partly of beliefs as to what we want. It is important to be clear as to
the part which does not consist of beliefs.

The primitive non-cognitive element in desire seems to be a push, not
a pull, an impulsion away from the actual, rather than an attraction
towards the ideal. Certain sensations and other mental occurrences have
a property which we call discomfort; these cause such bodily movements
as are likely to lead to their cessation. When the discomfort ceases,
or even when it appreciably diminishes, we have sensations possessing a
property which we call PLEASURE. Pleasurable sensations either stimulate
no action at all, or at most stimulate such action as is likely to
prolong them. I shall return shortly to the consideration of what
discomfort and pleasure are in themselves; for the present, it is
their connection with action and desire that concerns us. Abandoning
momentarily the standpoint of behaviourism, we may presume that hungry
animals experience sensations involving discomfort, and stimulating such
movements as seem likely to bring them to the food which is outside the
cages. When they have reached the food and eaten it, their discomfort
ceases and their sensations become pleasurable. It SEEMS, mistakenly, as
if the animals had had this situation in mind throughout, when in fact
they have been continually pushed by discomfort. And when an animal
is reflective, like some men, it comes to think that it had the final
situation in mind throughout; sometimes it comes to know what situation
will bring satisfaction, so that in fact the discomfort does bring the
thought of what