We are fueled by our desires in everything we do. We are propelled into action by both human greed and the intention to do good, and there are uncontrollable urges that cannot be denied and that are different from the desires caused by greed, which are easier to suppress. These desires and urges could harm another person or the whole community if acted upon, so it is necessary to weigh these acts previously instead of impulsively leaping to fulfill them. We always have a choice whether or not to act on impulse, but our impetuous nature may convince us not to hesitate. While it is not necessary to be completely rational begins and always choose reason over desire, we must weigh the consequences of impulsively acting on unreasonable urges; desires will never be completely suppressed, but they can become understood and managed. In society, these unnecessary and dangerous desires must be controlled even more diligently because the societal laws and norms demand conformity from all members in order to maintain the protection of the society. As John Stuart Mill writes: “Everyone who receives the protection of society owes a return for the benefit, and the fact of living in society renders it indispensable that each should be bound to observe a certain line of conduct” (On Liberty, Chapter IV). In order to live peacefully and harmlessly in society, it is necessary to stifle the desires that go against a social contract and to restrain the natural human greed. When we suppress harmful desires, we find that we increase our self-control and become stronger. It is important to be able to control the self rather than the other way around because we have no freedom and cannot function in society if we are constantly being manipulated into our actions by irrational impulses. By controlling both subconscious urges and conscious desires that could prove detrimental to society, an individual becomes personally empowered.
Molly,
ReplyDeleteMy primary question here is "to what end?" In other words, what is the purpose of your defined quest for self empowerment? What is the bigger picture goal of this society where harmful desires are suppressed and irrational impulses are controlled? Is it simply stability? Is it just fulfilling our role in a Millian/Lockean/etc... social contract? Is there a bigger picture or purpose here? Are we bound to develop some sense of power over our selves and our desires in order to help the world move toward a better understanding of self? (A Truth?) Do we all have to do this? Why? Why not?
How do we express our desires? Is there a relationship between our ability to act on our desires and what you define as our free will?
Who gets to decide whether a desire is good or detrimental to society? How is that line drawn? When you say we "stifle the desires that go against the social contract" what do you mean? The Harm Principle? Only that? How do we balance some desires as "good" -- things to do and follow -- and others as "bad" -- things to stifle or suppress? You imply a sense of morality and judgment without stating it. What is it?
I feel like every comment I make on these paragraphs gets back to morality. Sorry for being so repetitive, class.
do i have to talk about alllll of that in my first paragraph?
ReplyDeletemolly,
ReplyDeleteyou talk about desire being detrimental to a society, what do you
mean? like immorally destructive? or physically fulfilling violent
desires to destroy a societies integrity? make sure you are clear.
also Freud makes the argument that when we repress our desires, in
whatever form, they tend to release in unexpected manifestations. is
it wise to bottle our desires and allow them to grow and explode, or
is it better to just feed them gradually?
thirdly, when we repress our desires it restricts our freedom. this
prevents us from achieving a full understanding of self and instead
makes us slightly subdued versions of ourselves. would you sacrifice
your ability to achieve full self understanding in order to uphold a
society that subdues the desires of its people?
also do you believe that you personally repress all the desires that
may cause harm to the society or its legitamacy? one desire most
people have is the desire to speed in their cars. while this desire
may be harmful to both ourselves and others, as well as decrease the
legitamacy of the laws the government places, almost everyone fulfills
this desire to speed. and fulfilling this desire gives us a rush that
exercises our "bad" desires but also helps us feel free.
good start though.
OOH p.s. that was Miles' comment. He couldn't post it himself so he emailed it to me to post instead.
ReplyDeleteOkay. Here goes.
ReplyDelete1) Your font is too small.
2) I like the juxtaposition you set up at first with the human greed vs impulse to do good. I do think, however, that you should make some definition as to which impulse is stronger. Is it a Rousseau-ian "noble savage" that you are picturing, or a Hobbesian dimwit?
3) How would these impulses manifest themselves detrimentally in a society?
4) How does one go about learning to manage their desires? What does this repression of desires cause in an individual (think Freud)? (this may be more appropriate in your paper rather than your first paragraph)
5) I think you can cut down the Mill quote - start with the "the" after the comma, you can expand on why this is true in your paper itself.
6) What is the affect of the empowered person on society? How does this self-control and self-empowerment play out in social interactions and power struggles?
This is a good start, miss Molly! I think you are going to have an interesting paper here.