Desire Theory: Problems and Impacts - Essay Sample

Introduction

Human desires are limitless and insatiable. Each person desire to achieve happiness. By fulfilling their desires, they believe that they will achieve better lives. Desires that guarantee pleasure are good. Sometimes people use immoral virtues to obtain satisfaction. Sometimes when parents try to provide happiness to their children, they may do so in ways that are not quite acceptable. In the next two paragraphs, the essay will outline some of the desire theory's problems and how it influences people's quest for happiness.

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Desire, Hedonism, and Happiness

Desire is a strong emotion to achieve something. Some attractions are aimed at achieving better lives. If an informed desire makes us feel better in life, then it is right to say that it is good for us. Desires may not always improve the experience. Sometimes the intended desire does not necessarily have to make life better but will provide emotional fulfillment. Some people still do not feel pleased after achieving their desires because they had placed a false belief that the desire would make them happy. Hedonism is a philosophical explanation of happiness that traces its roots to Greek. Hedonism holds that there are two different forms of pleasure, physical pleasure and attitudinal pleasure (Heathwood, 2006). Happiness is a form of attitudinal pleasure that results from enjoyment.

A good life is a happy one. Happiness is achieved when one has an intrinsic inner peace but not necessarily the physical manifestation of joy (Shafer- Landau, 2009). Hedonism holds the view that there are many ingredients for happiness. Therefore each person has their specific definition of what gives them a good life. Looking at Wittgenstein's Concept of the Language game, it is evident that people always close themselves in a small box and assume that things have to occur a certain way (Shawver,2008). To communicate, you have to understand the language and, in the same effect, achieve the happiness you must fulfill your desires. This approach results in people blindly chasing their eagerness to find happiness.

To be better in life, we do not necessarily have to fulfill our desires. Kind gestures may make one happy. In this scenario, they have not achieved any of their preexisting desires, but they already feel better in life. Therefore happiness should not always be vested in attaining our desires because some of them may not promote the value of life. To live a good life, our attitude should be that of contentment but not a blind drive to fulfill worldly desires.

References

Shawver, L. (2008). On Wittgenstein’s concept of a language game. Retrieved March 1.http://old.behavior.org/resources/183

Shafer- Landau, R. (2009). The fundamentals of ethics.https://philpapers.org/rec/SHATFO-4

Heathwood, C. (2006). Desire satisfaction and hedonism. Philosophical Studies, 128(3), 539-563 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11098-004-7817-y