Attraction, Aversion, and Asymmetrical Desires

Daniel PALLIES

doi:10.1086/718083

Attraction, Aversion, and Asymmetrical Desires

Daniel PALLIES^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

I argue that, insofar as we endorse the general idea that desires play an important role in well-being, we ought to believe that their significance for well-being is derived from a pair of more fundamental attitudes: attraction and aversion. Attraction has wholly positive significance for well-being, and aversion has wholly negative significance for well-being. Desire satisfaction and frustration have significance for wellbeing insofar as the relevant desires involve some combination of attraction and aversion. I defend these claims by illustrating how our desires can be asymmetrical. They can have greater positive than negative significance for well-being, or vice versa.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	598-620
Number of pages	23
Journal	Ethics
Volume	132
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/718083
Publication status	Published - Apr 2022
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Many thanks to the many people who provided very helpful feedback on various versions of this article. In particular, I thank Mark Schroeder, Ralph Wedgwood, Janet Levin,John Hawthorne, Uriah Kriegel, Jennifer Foster, Alexander Dietz, two anonymous reviewers, and two associate editors at Ethics.

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10.1086/718083

Cite this

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N1 - Many thanks to the many people who provided very helpful feedback on various versions of this article. In particular, I thank Mark Schroeder, Ralph Wedgwood, Janet Levin,John Hawthorne, Uriah Kriegel, Jennifer Foster, Alexander Dietz, two anonymous reviewers, and two associate editors at Ethics.

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N2 - I argue that, insofar as we endorse the general idea that desires play an important role in well-being, we ought to believe that their significance for well-being is derived from a pair of more fundamental attitudes: attraction and aversion. Attraction has wholly positive significance for well-being, and aversion has wholly negative significance for well-being. Desire satisfaction and frustration have significance for wellbeing insofar as the relevant desires involve some combination of attraction and aversion. I defend these claims by illustrating how our desires can be asymmetrical. They can have greater positive than negative significance for well-being, or vice versa.

AB - I argue that, insofar as we endorse the general idea that desires play an important role in well-being, we ought to believe that their significance for well-being is derived from a pair of more fundamental attitudes: attraction and aversion. Attraction has wholly positive significance for well-being, and aversion has wholly negative significance for well-being. Desire satisfaction and frustration have significance for wellbeing insofar as the relevant desires involve some combination of attraction and aversion. I defend these claims by illustrating how our desires can be asymmetrical. They can have greater positive than negative significance for well-being, or vice versa.

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ER -

Attraction, Aversion, and Asymmetrical Desires

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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