Editing Instinct (section)

=== Jean Henri Fabre ===
[[Jean Henri Fabre]] (1823–1915) is said to be the first person to study small animals (other than birds) and insects, and he specifically specialized in the instincts of insects.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Pasteur |first=Georges |date=July 1994 |title=Jean Henri Fabre |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0794-74 |journal=Scientific American |volume= 271|issue= 1|pages=74–80 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0794-74 |bibcode=1994SciAm.271a..74P |s2cid=43232778 |issn=0036-8733|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Citation |last=Wheeler |first=William Morton |title=Jean-Henri Fabre |date=1916 |url=https://doi.org/10.1037/h0070333 |pages=74–80 |journal=Journal of Animal Behavior |volume=6 |doi=10.1037/h0070333 |access-date=2022-05-07|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Fabre considered an instinct to be a linked set of behaviours that an organism undergoes unconsciously in response to external conditions.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Yavetz |first=Ido |date=1988 |title=Jean Henri Fabre and Evolution: Indifference or Blind Hatred? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23328997 |journal=History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=3–36 |jstor=23328997 |issn=0391-9714}}</ref>

==== Insect and animal behaviour ====
Fabre concluded a significant difference between humans and other animals is that most animals cannot reason.<ref name=":4" /> He came to this conclusion after observing how insects and wild birds continued to repeat a certain behaviour in response to a novel situation.<ref name=":4" /> While these instinctive behaviours appeared complex, the insects and animals did not adjust their behaviour despite it not helping them in that novel situation.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" />

The following are some insect and animal behaviours that Fabre observed and labelled "instinctive",<ref name=":4" /> for they do not involve reasoning:
* Maternal instincts
* [[Metamorphosis]]
* [[Mimicry]]
* Molting
* Playing dead
* [[Taxis]]

==== Fixed patterns ====
Fabre believed instincts were "fixed patterns", meaning these linked sets of behaviours do not change in response to novel environmental situations.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Raffles |first=Hugh |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedinsec00raff |title=Insectopedia |publisher=Pantheon Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-375-42386-4 |location=New York}}</ref> One specific example that helped him arrive at this conclusion is his study of various wasp species.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> All of the wasp species he studied performed a certain pattern of behaviour when catching their prey, which Fabre called a fixed pattern.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> Then Fabre intervened in the wasps' process of catching prey, and only one of the species adjusted their behaviour in response to this unfamiliar interception.<ref name=":6" /> Fabre explained this contradiction by arguing that any individuals which stray from the norms of their species are merely an exception,<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> while also admitting that there could be some room for growth within a species' instincts.<ref name=":6" />

Fabre's belief that instincts are fixed opposes the theory of evolution. He rejected that one species could evolve into another, and also rejected that human consciousness could be achieved through the evolution of unconscious traits.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" />