The answer, in my experience, is invariably stern, and 'in the
negative': in tolerant moments compromising on 'Wait, like a good
boy, and see.'
But we singled out this instinct and discussed it in our last
lecture.
No. (6). _To construct things_--the 'constructive instinct.' I
quote Mr Holmes here:
After analysis comes synthesis. The child pulls his toys
to pieces in order that he may, if possible, reconstruct
them. The ends that he sets before himself are those which
Comte Set before the human race--_savoir pour prévoir, afin
de pouvoir: induire pour déduire, afin de construire._ The
desire to make things, to build things up, to control ways
and means, to master the resources of nature, to put his
knowledge of her laws and facts to practical use, is strong in
his soul. Give him a box of bricks, and he will spend hours
in building and rebuilding houses, churches.... Set him on a
sandy shore with a spade and a pail, and he will spend hours
in constructing fortified castles with deep encircling moats.
Again obviously this constructive instinct overlaps with the
imitative ones. Construction, for example, enters into the art of
making mud-pies and has also been applied in the past to great
poetry. If you don't keep a sharp eye in directing this instinct,
it may conceivably end in an "Othello" or in a "Divina Commedia."