In his paper Desire and the Human Good, Richard Kraut argues that the typical defense for pluralism, Desire Satisfaction Theory, is too weak; subsequently Kraut offers his own alternative. In this paper I will explain Desire Satisfaction Theory as Kraut opposes it, defend the objections made by Kraut against Desire Satisfaction Theory, and evaluate his alternative theory. In ancient greek philosophies such as platonic, aristotelian, stoic and epicurean, as well as in medieval christian philosophies, the answer to to the question “what makes a life go best?” is always a narrow answer. With little variation the only life that is good and worth living, to the aforementioned schools of thought, is the life which which is spent developing an understanding of nature and of metaphysics, or rather the life spent as a philosopher. However the position which is by far more popular today is that of pluralism. Pluralism is the concept that there are multiple ways to live that result in a life going best; Desire Satisfaction Theory attempts to offer a justification for pluralism. Desire Satisfaction Theory states that: a life goes best if and only if desires for that life are satisfied. The variability of desires from person to person, along with Desire Satisfaction Theory, makes it possible to have many types of lifes that are different yet all of them making the life of anyone who desire to live them go well; for example if someone desires to make a living as an engineer, the fulfillment of that desire makes his life go best, and at the same time another person who desires to write music would be better off studying music rather than engineering. Kraut makes a few modifications to this basic idea of Desire Satisfaction Theory in order to gi... ... middle of paper ... ...his primary example of this is the deliberations unguided children would make about their lives. While a child would have certain necessary desires, for food, stimulation, warmth and contact, that child also lacks desires for what we would consider makes life go best (desires to develop capacities and to become nurtured in the customs of society). To this objection, a proponent of Desire Satisfaction Theory could claim: to remedy these concerns and further extension should be made to the theory, that is, that one’s future desires being satisfied is also a component of a life going well. While this modification does fix the issue of not have ideal desires in youth, it does nothing to reconcile issues caused by someone forming bad desires out of not knowing or not caring about what makes their life go best. Works Cited Response to Kraut’s Desire and the Human Good
However, with individual’s contentment, it encompasses a broader group of audiences. For instance, it can include a child, a woman, a man, or anyone. For example, a child is contented when he received something he had always wanted for a present. To do that child, receiving what he always wanted means the world to him. A mother may wish for nothing more than to see her children growing successfully and living a good life. When her wishes bear fruits, she would feel contented, even though she might have sacrificed a lot during the course of raising her children. A father could be content with similar ideal. He may wish nothing more than to be able to support his family, to see that his wife and children are financially supported by working extra hours. Similarly, Slaughter, an elite feminist, believes she did not have it all by expressing her longing for motherhood and is not contented even though she has achieved a high-profile government position (Slaughter 676-677). When her stint from her government position is up, she becomes a dean at Woodrow Wilson School. With her position, she is able to make work schedule flexible for her to allow her the time for her family. Believing that with her flexibility at work, she can have have it all (Slaughter 687). However, it also tells us that she contented with her
This unit explored desire satisfactionism, a term that generally speaks for itself. Though it is an umbrella term because there are different types. There is local desire satisfactionism, which is the idea that if desires are satisfied, one is happy. Then there is whole life satisfactionism. It means that to be happy is to have one desire satisfied. This is the overarching desire that your most important desires be satisfied. It is prioritized assessment of one’s life as a whole. To compare local desire satisfactionism with whole life satisfactionism would be like comparing quality and quantity from a hedonist perspective. It is similar in regard to desire satisfactionism, two different types. Several individuals discuss whole life satisfactionism
Simons, Janet A., Donald B. Irwin, and Beverly A. Drinnin. "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Psychology: the Search for Understanding. St. Paul: West Pub., 1987. Print.
According to the dictionary, the definition of dissatisfaction is the quality or state of being unhappy or discontent. Dissatisfaction is a disease that theoretically knows no prejudices, has no cure, and almost everyone has it. This is a global epidemic, that can destroy a man in the time it takes to snap your fingers. Physically most people will be alright but discontent will rot you to the core on the inside. Unfortunately, not being content seems to be a very common part of society today and in the past. The theme of not be satiated by life is especially seen in the famous novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. All the characters in this novel seemingly have achieved the american dream but they are all unhappy and never get what they really want in the end. Also, no character is satisfied with their marriage, with love, and with life in general. They are all unhappy with their lives and they destroy the lives of others in order to satisfy themselves. The Great Gatsby teaches us that even being wealthy and powerful, people can still be dissatisfied and will do anything in order to be happy. Therefore, despite believing that we have it all, dissatisfaction still plagues the human spirit.
A researcher in humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow, stated that, “Basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency… (The organism’s) behavior organized only by unsatisfied needs.” (A.Maslow, “A Theory of Human Motivation, 1943) This suggests that in order to progress to the next step in the hierarchy (shown on the right) one must fulfill the steps below.
From pursuing pleasure to avoiding pain, life seems to ultimately be about achieving happiness. However, how to define and obtain happiness has and continues to be a widely debated issue. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle gives his view on happiness. Aristotle focuses particularly on how reason, our rational capacity, should help us recognize and pursue what will lead to happiness and the good life.';(Cooley and Powell, 459) He refers to the soul as a part of the human body and what its role is in pursuing true happiness and reaching a desirable end. Aristotle defines good'; as that which everything aims.(Aristotle, 459) Humans have an insatiable need to achieve goodness and eventual happiness. Sometimes the end that people aim for is the activity they perform, and other times the end is something we attempt to achieve by means of that activity. Aristotle claims that there must be some end since everything cannot be means to something else.(Aristotle, 460) In this case, there would be nothing we would try to ultimately achieve and everything would be pointless. An ultimate end exists so that what we aim to achieve is attainable. Some people believe that the highest end is material and obvious (when a person is sick they seek health, and a poor person searches for wealth).
Desires play a very important role in our everyday lives. That yearning or thirst can cause problems in our lives that may not be in our best interest. We often choose to over look signs that are caused by desire and end up hurting someone or even ourselves for the sake of satisfaction. Our hope is that desires along will bring us enjoyment and satisfaction once they are accomplished. Not being able to attain certain desires can also lead to a state of greed and suffering.
The connection with motivation and theory has been the interest of scholars for centuries. There are so many theories which impact motivation and others that merely adds to the understanding thereof. Over the last three weeks we have engaged in the process of examining several different theories, to include: Self-Determination Theory, Humanistic Theory, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Cognitive Evaluation Theory, Self-Motivational Theory, Arousal Theory and so on. Human beings act and/or react on their individual needs, desires and/or satisfactions. Ultimately, we as human beings have certain wants and desires; therefore we then in return do and/or are willing to do certain things to get the desired outcome.
...oncept of well-being. Overall, the amalgamation of the inconsistencies and errors I have attempted to highlight with my arguments I think prove my original hypothesis, that actual preference theory does not offer the correct account of well-being, because the arguments show that the fulfilment of a preference does not always produce consequences that are conducive to
A good life can be defined with continuous happiness, various accomplishments, and everlasting prosperity. The eternal desire for a good life has influenced philosophers and their reasoning throughout the years. Many have followed ancient religions; while others followed the modern belief of listening to your heart and therefore one’s self. Pascal, Luther, and Augustine are some of the philosophers who followed religion, and believed it to be the ultimate way of achieving a good life. Other preachers like Rousseau and Nietzsche believed in following one’s heart and conscious in order to achieve the desired goal. Rousseau presented the idea that humans are born good and society is what actually shapes humans into good or bad people. Furthermore, he expands on the subject of one’s self and the inward view rather than the outward view. With this, a modern and innovative perspective on the good life was developed as reason cannot only be used on an everyday basis, but can also present a more attainable way of achieving a good for all members of society.
What establishes a noble, valuable, enjoyable life? Many philosophers tried their own beliefs to these ancient and most persistent of philosophical question. Most of Philosophers have agreed that the best possible life is a life where the ideas of “virtue” and “happiness” are fulfilled. Nevertheless expected differences in terms, many great minds theorized that the road to a joyful, flourishing, happy life is paved with virtues. For example, Aristotle believed that anyone keen to live a virtuous life will reach happiness (Aristotle 1992). Also according to Roman Cicero, the bonds between virtue and happiness are very strong, that a virtuous person could still be happy even if he is tortured (McMahon 2006). In addition, Rosalind Hursthouse contended that owning virtue does not essentially result in happiness, as luck plays an irrefutable part in human’s life; however it is the best bet for a good life (Hursthouse 1999). Exactly the same like taking on a healthy routine is the best way for being healthy, although it does not assurance perfect health. In my opinion, there is a strong connection between virtue and happiness, yet there are some exceptions.
At one point in our lives, we all ask ourselves, “What is the good life?” Is it winning the lottery, or finding love, or is it graduating University? Philosopher Plato, the Buddhist religion and Confucius had their own beliefs of what the good life is for them. I believe all of these Philosophers’ and religions theories have truth and meaning, and we have all, or will experience them in our journey through our lives. The philosophers and Religions that spoke out to me the most were Plato, the Buddhist and the Confucius.
primary want in life can have great impacts on the development of a child, helping or hindering a
The Good Life is an expression representing how one would like to live out their life. In other words, how that person achieves happiness. There are three theories that correlate to the Good Life: daoism, stoicism, and existentialism. Since each person defines their happiness differently, each person has their own opinion as to whether or not what is read to be correct or not. The goal is to at least shine a light onto what everyone seems drawn towards. Existentialism is an important theory to consider in order to achieve the Good Life. Although existentialism may not appeal to everyone as a reliable theory to achieve the Good Life, it does elaborate as to how existentialism can be used to achieve the Good Life.
However, we can wonder if the pleasures that derive from necessary natural desires are what actually brings us happiness, since having a family, friends, a good job and doing fun things seem to bring the most joy in life. Plato’s ideas on life are even more radical, since he claims that we should completely take difference from our bodily needs. Therefore it seems that we should only do what is necessary for us to stay a life and solely focus on the mind. Although both ways of dealing with (bodily)pleasure are quite radical and almost impossible to achieve, it does questions if current perceptions of ‘living the good life’ actually leads to what we are trying to achieve, which is commonly described as