2. Good as Cause of Desire: Resolving the Objections

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• The Fundamental Question: Is something good because we want it, or do we want it because it is good?
• The Two Major Objections to “Good Causes Desire”:
  • Objection 1: Good is not always wanted—people sometimes don’t desire what is genuinely good for them
  • Objection 2: Bad things are sometimes wanted—contrary effects should have contrary causes, yet people desire bad things
• The Role of Knowledge as Intermediary: Between the objective good and our desire for it stands an act of sensation or reason
• Deception and Ignorance: How the senses and reason can be ignorant, deceived, or incomplete in their knowledge

Key Arguments #

Resolution to Objection 1: “Good is Not Always Wanted” #

• The Problem: If good causes desire, why don’t we always desire what is good for us?
• The Solution: The good as known is what causes desire
  • Romeo did not want Juliet until he saw her (sensory knowledge intervened)
  • A child does not want wisdom until reason recognizes its excellence
  • A sick child without appetite still objectively needs food; the mother recognizes this goodness apart from the child’s desire
• Conclusion: Ignorance of the good explains why something good may not be desired

Resolution to Objection 2: “Bad Things Are Sometimes Desired” #

• The Problem: If good is the cause of desire and bad is contrary to good, then bad should cause aversion, not desire. Yet people seem to desire bad things.
• The Solution: Bad is never desired as bad; it is desired only insofar as:
  1. It resembles the good, deceiving the senses or reason
  2. It contains some real good that is genuinely attractive
  3. Knowledge of it is incomplete or partial
• Key Distinction: The bad per se (in itself) is never an object of desire; it is only desired per accidens (accidentally/incidentally)
• Logical Principle: Contrary effects follow from contrary causes. But when bad is desired, it is not truly a contrary effect—it is desired insofar as it appears or contains something good

The Intermediary Role of Knowledge #

• Thomas Aquinas’s Insight (from his treatise on love): Good is a cause of love/desire, and knowledge is also a cause of love—“for the same reason, in a sense”
• Precise Formulation: The good as known is the object of desire
  • Before Romeo’s desire comes his sensory knowledge (seeing Juliet’s beauty)
  • Before the philosopher’s desire for wisdom comes his reason’s recognition of wisdom’s excellence
• Implications:
  • The senses and reason can be ignorant of something (explaining lack of desire for genuine goods)
  • The senses and reason can be deceived by likeness or resemblance (explaining desire for apparent goods)
  • Knowledge can be incomplete or partial (explaining attraction to things containing mixed good and bad)

Important Definitions #

• Good: That which is objectively beneficial or perfective of a being; not dependent on being desired
• Desire/Wanting: The appetite or inclination toward a perceived good; the effect of recognizing something as good
• The Good as Known: The good insofar as it is apprehended by sensation (sight, taste, smell, etc.) or reason; the proper and immediate object of desire
• Per Se vs. Per Accidens: Something is desired per se (in itself) when it is desired for its own goodness; something is desired per accidens (accidentally) when it is desired insofar as it appears to be or contains something good, even if it is actually bad

Examples & Illustrations #

Poisonous Mushrooms #

• Resemble edible mushrooms in appearance
• Desired because they seem to be good mushrooms, not because they are poisonous
• The original cause of desire is the truly good edible mushrooms
• The senses are deceived by likeness; the bad (poison) is not desired as such
• Even mushroom experts can be deceived due to difficulty distinguishing them

Delicious Poison #

• A drink that smells and tastes good but is poisonous
• Desired for its genuine sensory goods (pleasant smell and taste), not for its poison
• The person is attracted to the real good in the drink; the poison is unknown or ignored
• The badness (poison) is accidental to what attracts the person, not the cause of attraction

Contaminated Alcohol (Sailors on a Ship) #

• Sailors mistake industrial alcohol (kept for cleaning) for drinking alcohol
• They desire it insofar as it seems to be good alcohol
• They did not want to become blind; they were deceived about what they were drinking
• The original and true cause of their desire is the goodness of genuine alcohol

Romeo and Juliet #

• Juliet’s beauty exists objectively before Romeo encounters her
• An act of sensory knowledge (seeing her) comes between her objective beauty and his desire
• His desire is caused not by beauty abstractly, but by beauty as seen by him
• He did not want her because she suddenly became beautiful; she was beautiful before he met her

Wisdom and the Philosopher #

• The philosopher does not want wisdom because he wants it (circular reasoning)
• He wants it because reason recognizes its excellence and divine character
• An act of reason (understanding what wisdom is) comes between wisdom’s objective excellence and his desire for it
• Knowledge of wisdom’s value precedes and causes the desire for it

Gathered Berries and Leaves #

• A mother must prevent grandchildren from gathering poisonous berries and poison ivy leaves
• Children are attracted to the beauty of the colored leaves or berries, not to the poison
• The real good they perceive (beauty, edibility) attracts them; the bad (poison, irritation) is unknown
• This illustrates how people are attracted to real goods in things, even when those things also contain hidden bads

Bank Robber #

• Asked “Why do you rob banks?” answers “That’s where the money is”
• He is attracted by the good in money (its usefulness), not by the injustice of robbery
• The badness (injustice) is not the reason for his choice; he is drawn by what is genuinely good about money

Student Cheating #

• A student cheats not because cheating is good, but to get a good grade
• The good (the grade) is what attracts him; the bad (dishonesty) is not the reason he chooses this action

Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment #

• A student plans to commit murder simply to demonstrate he is above the law
• Even in this extreme case, there is a false appearance of good: the imagined superiority of being above everyone else
• The student pursues an apparent good (the false sense of transcendence), not badness as such

Questions Addressed #

Primary Question: How Do We Resolve the Two Objections? #

Objection 1 Resolution: “Good is not always wanted”

• The good must be known to arouse desire
• Ignorance of the good, even genuine goods, explains why we don’t always desire what is good
• Example: A sick child may not want food due to loss of appetite, yet food remains objectively good

Objection 2 Resolution: “Bad things are sometimes desired”

• The bad as bad is never desired
• The bad is desired only insofar as:
  1. It resembles the good (deception by likeness)
  2. It contains some real good (partial or incomplete knowledge)
• The senses and reason can be ignorant, deceived by resemblance, or have incomplete knowledge
• The original cause of all desire remains the good, properly understood

Secondary Question: What Comes Between the Good and Our Desire for It? #

• An act of sensation (seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing, touching)
• Or an act of reason (understanding, recognizing excellence)
• These acts of knowledge allow the good to become the good as known, which is the proper object of desire

Logical Structure of the Lecture #

1. Statement of Provisional Conclusion (from previous inductive argument): Something is wanted because it is good
2. Presentation of Objections: Two major objections that seem to contradict this conclusion
3. Introduction of Intermediary Concept: Knowledge (sensation or reason) stands between the objective good and desire
4. Resolution of Objection 1: Ignorance explains lack of desire for genuine goods
5. Resolution of Objection 2: Deception and incomplete knowledge explain desire for apparent or bad goods
6. Reaffirmation: The good, properly understood through knowledge, remains the primary cause of desire