[Initial activity and voluntary behavior in animals].

Initiation as a basic property of behavioral activity is functionally analyzed and discussed at the level of voluntary behavior. Fixed action patterns often are not released by stimuli but are generated by the animal itself through brain processes of the Darwinian type. Analogous to mutations, behavioral "subroutines" are brought up by chance and are subjected to selection either by the change in the situation (trial and the elimination of error) or by mental activity suppressing inappropriate behavior even before it is executed. Initiation improves the chance of survival. It is a prerequisite of goal-oriented behavior, an essential constituent of operant conditioning and presumably the first step in the evolution of thought. According to I. Kant a person is free if, by following his own directive, he does what has to be done. This definition meets the two central criteria of initiation: the independence of releasing stimuli and the adaptive value of the behavior generated.