(August 5, 2015 at 5:01 pm)\abaris Wrote:(August 5, 2015 at 4:57 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: An instinctual desire to have sex is not the same as an instinctual desire to have children. I am inclined to accept that the former is an instinctual desire, but I have seen no evidence that the latter is an instinctual desire.
The way nature designed it, it is intended. It's only that humans do make that distinction. Animals, as far as we know, do not. The instinct to have sex is a reproductive instinct to preserve the species.
I'm wary about the descriptors "designed" and "intended". But I digress.
Otherwise I agree. The instinct to reproduce is perhaps the most fundamental characteristic of living organisms. The only purpose in life we can be sure of is to pass on our DNA to future generations.
How that characteristic actually manifests behaviourally is a whole other discussion.
Sporadic poster