| Title | : | On Desire: Why We Want What We Want |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0195188624 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780195188622 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 |
| Publication | : | First published September 26, 2005 |
sometimes changing the course of our lives.
In On Desire, William B. Irvine takes us on a wide-ranging tour of our impulses, wants, and needs, showing us where these feelings come from and how we can try to rein them in. Spicing his account with engaging observations by writers like Seneca, Tolstoy, and Freud, Irvine considers the teachings
of Buddhists, Hindus, the Amish, Shakers, and Catholic saints, as well as those of ancient Greek and Roman and modern European philosophers. Irvine also looks at what modern science can tell us about desire--what happens in the brain when we desire something and how animals evolved particular
desires--and he advances a new theory about how desire itself evolved. Irvine also suggests that at the same time that we gained the ability to desire, we were "programmed" to find some things more desirable than others. Irvine concludes that the best way to attain lasting happiness is not to
change the world around us or our place in it, but to change ourselves. If we can convince ourselves to want what we already have, we can dramatically enhance our happiness.
Brimming with wisdom and practical advice, On Desire offers a thoughtful approach to controlling unwanted passions and attaining a more meaningful life.
On Desire: Why We Want What We Want Reviews
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A bit pedestrian if you come to the topic with any background. Fun diagrams like "The Chain of Desire" and "The Taxonomy of Desire" are a lame attempt at street cred. Presents a naive understanding of Buddhism. We are ever at odds with our Biological Incentive System (BIS), but must we reduce eons of evolution to an acronym worthy of an online management school primary text?
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Discussions about intelligence and cognition frequently omit the role of desire. Irvine's book brings desire to the forefront and describes how it works with cognition. Irvine does a good job of separating terminal (desire for own sake) from instrumental (desired for the sake of something else) desires. Terminal desires are set by evolution (food, sex, rest, protection) because they have survival value and they have a built in biological ("hedonic") incentive system. Satisfying desire feels good; not satisfying feels bad. The second half of the book discusses various religious and philosophical theories about how to master "unwanted" desire. What is wanted or unwanted desire is highly variable, but it's generally understood that some of our desires get in the way of individual and social well-being and social order.
So far, so good. Irvine selectively quotes Schopenhauer but fails to convey the comprehensive way Schopenhauer's theory of the Will looks at desire. Schopenhauer's theory provides the philosophical and, implicitly, the biological, framework for Irvine's subject. The Will is primal energy related to survival and reproduction. This energy pulses through our being and demands to be satisfied. When the objects of the Will are obtained, the satisfaction is temporary before the Will, as life force within, pushes us out into the world again to seek new objects (food, sexual partners), which include the various instrumental actions (related, for example, to pride, rank) related to these fundamental terminal desires. While Irvine asserts that desires are insatiable, Schopenhauer's theory enlightens us as to why this is so. Also, while Irvine casts desire into the traditional "seek what feels good, avoid what feels bad" mode, Schopenhauer reframes the "seek pleasure, avoid pain" debate by saying that the Will, as action, is always prompted by pain (dissatisfaction). This is what moves us into the world (seeking) and moves us to defend ourselves against threats. When the Will is successful, there is satisfaction ("good"). When it is not successful, the Will is unsatisfied ("bad"), prompting a new round of action.
Irvine also states the essential role the intellect plays in formulating chains of desire (Ends-means relationships), or the instrumental actions used to satisfy terminal desires. In Schopenhauer's theory, the latter provides the End of action. These are invariant and provide the reason (motivation) for action. We are not, Schopenhauer argues, free to change those Ends, but our intellect is free to chose how to put together these Ends-means relationships. Irvine at one point says that we can act by sheer will power (non-hedonic terminal desire) which bumps into Kant's moral theory (we do the right thing because it is the right thing). From the perspective of Schopenhauer's theory, this intellectual motivation is problematic and suspect, and is perhaps why so-called pure reasoned morality is pervaded with unacknowledged self-biased perspectives.
Irvine discusses how reason can be used to master ("superimpose its plan") on unwanted desires, and thereby reinforces the common belief that we can be the masters of our desires. Schopenhauer's theory struggled with this as well and, while Schopenhauer was not particularly successful, he had a strong appreciation for the power of the Will and its pervasive immunity to control by reason. Irvine's book is excellent in emphasizing that an intellectual commitment needs to be based in emotion to have an effective hold on our behavior. The weaker part of Irvine's book is that it gives too much credit to reason to control unwanted desire. For those whose Will (energy level) for self-survival and well-being and reproduction (sex drive) is particularly strong, self-control via reason is likely to be a far too optimistic view. -
Why do we want what we want? William Irvine’s On Desire examines the nature of desire, exploring first how profoundly it affects our lives, then surveying psychological inquiries into its basis before at last turning to consider how religions, philosophies, and odd ducks have attempted to grapple with it. Irvine is author previously of A Guide to the Good Life, a manual on the practice of Stoicism, and the two works have a common subject and a likely audience. On Desire is one part science and another philosophy, thorough but concise.
We are not merely what we think deliberately; anyone can realize their mind has a life of its own with a simple experiment: simply shut your eyes and attempt to count slowly to ten. The count will not even reach five before thoughts start floating up and competing for attention. Where do these distractions come from? After a brief introductory section in which Irvine comments on how profoundly our life can be changed by desires beyond our control -- falling in love, for instance -- the second part of the book offers that desires are ultimately the result of our instincts, a kind of biological incentive system that’s had a cobbled-together evolutionary history.
That our minds are driven by evolutionary forces is natural, but not ideal; following every desire is not the road to happiness. Indeed, even if the desires didn't lead to our immediate destruction (like the urge to pet a sleeping lion), heeding every impulse leaves a person constantly in need of stimulation. That in mind, it is no accident that virtually every religion, and most moral philosophies, have addressed the matter of desire, and in the third section of the work Irvine examines Abrahamic, Greek, and Buddhist approaches. While the Abrahamic religions typically couch mastery of desire so that people can attain heaven and everlasting bliss, the Greek schools (Stoicism and Epicureanism) and Buddhism have a more this-worldy approach: desire is countered to achieve tranquility or to maximize enjoyment. After surveying the advice given to students by such luminaries as Augustine, Seneca, and Henry David Thoreau, Baxter notes that despite the variety of contradictions, there are some common lessons that can be distilled.
The foundational observation is that desires should not be trusted. If we practice mindfulness, we will immediately realize their impermanence; like a child blowing bubbles, one desire will be a phantasm among dozens, constantly moving, eventually fading. Desires compete with one another, and so thick are they that our intellect is crowded out; it plays 'second fiddle'. The most potent desires are the ones we have the least control over, but no desire is really insatiable. Even though they cannot be fulfilled, they can be resisted; our biological incentive system may try to punish us, but it's not the end the world. Ultimately, the only way to truly fight desires is to change ourselves to learn to appreciate -- through philosophy, religion, etc -- what we have, to use techniques both ancient and modern to strengthen our minds against the distractions of the moment. Irvine covers a lot of varied practices within the text for those who develop an interest.
On Desire is a superb work, quite attractive to anyone with an interest in mindfulness. My own Stoic leanings predispose me to enjoy it, of course, but I think it laudable also for demonstrating how our evolutionary history has consequences in our present life; although we'd like to think that natural history is history, a closed book, in truth we are driven by the same instincts today that wrote that book. The thoughtfulness of a work such as this gives us the ability to avoid much of the suffering that nature's book is replete with.
Related:
Irvine's own The Good Life: the Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, any book in Stoicism -
I came across this book by complete accident - i.e. by Googling my own name, 'William F Irvine', just to see what came up. Discovering that my namesake is a Philosophy Professor (I have a degree in the same subject and am particularly interested in the area of desire) I couldn't NOT buy a copy. I enjoyed William B Irvine's comprehensive tour of the religious and philosophical views on the subject, particularly the Stoics'. I also enjoyed his explanations on desire's biological/psychological origins. However, I was disappointed that the book didn't explore or offer much in terms of approaches either for harnessing or reining in desire or its corollary, anxiety- key questions that interest me.
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Really interesting broad analysis of human desire and how it guides our lives.
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I feel a bit nerdy typing this up at 1:00 a.m. on a Saturday night so I can return this book tomorrow on my way to babysitting. They're 8 days overdue at the library.
My favorite philosophy professor reviewed this book and half way through the book I noticed his quip on the back of the book
"William B. Irvine has written a disarmingly seductive and easily readable treatise on the origins, nature, vicissitudes, and 'crises' of desire. He simply and clearly discusses biologically incentive systems, the rich psychological research on the peculiarities of our motivation, and the wisdom of various religious and spiritual traditions. It is a well-informed, wise, informed interdisciplinary book that is highly recommended for the general reader." - Solomn
I've copied that only because Solomon died early this year and it's just one more thing to hold on to besides his books and my class notes.
Initially,I was very excited to read this book. I was browsing the philosophy section in the library idly when I came upon this book. Was going through some conflicting desires at the time (they're still unresolved actually) and I thought hmm perhaps this book will enlighten me. Initially after the introduction and the first two chapters, my excitement waned. I was dedicated and read through the end. Towards the end, I got bored and was skimming through the last few chapters. I did jot down a few excerpts. It is a great book if you want a crash course on all the different philosophical teachings... Crash course on Stoics, Skeptics, Eccentrics. Irvine also did a lot of philosophical name dropping which I'd admit I like in my books only to keep me fresh.. Hume, Schophenhauer, Aristotle, etc etc. Many got mentions. Irvine touched on the evolutionary proposes of desires, different types of desires, religious advice on how to deal with desire and, philosophical advice on how to deal with desire.
So first few chapters peaked my interest. Distinguished the differences between the bandwagon effect (conforming) and the snob effect (not conforming for the sake of not conforming).
Excerpts follows.
"Familiarity breeds envy. A person is more likely to feel envious of his coworkers, neighbors, or relatives than a multibillionaire he has never met." -48
"Other people's heads are a wretched place to be the home of a man's true happiness." - Schopenhauer 36
"We go far less trouble about making ourselves happy than about appearing to be so." - La Rochefoucauld 39
"Intellectually, we know what we need to do with our lives, and we set goals accordingly - to swim ten miles each week, to write a page a day, to learn to play the bango, to terminate a relationship that is causing us grief. But unless our emotions cooperate, unless they commit to the goals our intellect sets, it is unlikely that we will accomplish these goals: our heart won't be in it, and a mind operating without the support of a heart is singularly impotent."
"The intellect's best strategy for dealing with the emotions is to use emotions to fight emotions."
"Adaptation: we tend to get used to what we have and therefore like it less with the passage of time. We grow indifferent to the spouse, home, or car that was once our pride and joy, and because we are no longer satisfied with what we have,w e form new desires in the belief that satisfying them - unlike when we satisfied our previous desires - will lead to lasting happiness."
"Why ignore modern philosophy? Because most modern philosophers are horrified by the thought of giving people advice on how to live better lives."
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Seriously good summary of various philosophers' takes on "why we want what we want." No Oprah-esque at all, though it does end with a somewhat zen view on recognizing the irrational/emotive parts of our desires so that we can influence...if not control...those desires.
Like "stumbling on happiness," this is one of those books that lucidly describes/categorizes human experiences that you recognize. For example:
"The relationship between the intellect and the emotions is therefore asymmetrical. Although the emotions have veto power over the intellect, in most cases the intellect has only the power of persuasion in its dealings with the emotions, and it can persuade them only if it can invoke a stronger emotion than the one it wants to suppress. Conversely, the intellect can form a desire, but if the emotions don't commit, the resulting desire will be feeble. And if the emotions object, the resulting desire will be stillborn..... The emotions, in their dealings with the intellect, don't use reason to gain its cooperation. instead they wear it down with -what else?--emotional entreaties. They beg, whine, and bully. They wont take no for an answer. They wont give the intellect a moment's peace. In most cases, the best the intellect can hope for is to withstand these entreaties for a spell. Then it succumbs."
A perfect description of the processes in my head when I want to buy something that I shouldn't.
Highly recommended book. -
As biological beings, our lives are primarily subjected to fulfilling desires that are dictated by our pre-conscious emotions. Our capacity for reason and intellect are, at bottom, devices evolved to fulfill insatiable desires and not the rational, logical entities we may believe they are. It is only through a conscious act of will based on some well-thought out strategy, be it religious, philosophical or some other method, that we can begin to overcome this life dictated by desire in order to lend it a meaning beyond that of surviving and reproducing according to our biological imperative.
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Semplice, comprensibile ed interessante. Mi è piaciuto, davvero!
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Some desires are oversimplified (I guess his readers are not too concerned with “keeping up with the cardashians”... too many references to lifestyles of rich and famous for me) but still, beautiful analysis of what our desires really are and how to deal with them to have a meaningful life :) it was a pleasure :)
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«الناس بحاجة إلى الناس. يمكن القول أن حاجتنا إلى الناس لا يعلو عليها إلاّ حاجتنا إلى الهواء والماء وربما الطعام. (يفضل بعض الناس يومًا بدون طعام على يوم بدون أشخاص). حرمان الشخص العادي من الاتصال البشري لفترة طويلة، يستدعي منا أن نخشى على سلامته العقلية»
ويليام إيرفين -
This book was interesting to read but didn't make me feel any better about dealing with my or others' desires.
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very interesting read. It is a keeper in the library for times when i want to rethink my life. it could be summarized a bit but on the other side if it was denser maybe it would be too much.
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Bàn về ham muốn: Một cuốn sách đúng nghĩa để bàn luận, lịch sử ham muốn của con người từ thời cổ chí kim đến hiện đại, giải thích ngọn nguồn của ham muốn dưới lăng kính của khoa học- tâm lý học, bàn về cái lợi, cái hại của ham muốn và ham muốn dưới góc nhìn của các tôn giáo, các nhà hiền triết sẽ như thế nào và những phương pháp "thần bí" nào mà họ sử dụng để kiềm chế ham muốn ?
Cái hay của cuốn sách là viết để ta bàn và suy ngẫm, không viết thiên kiến theo bất kì một quan điểm nào. Tác giả dàn trải đều các quan điểm trên khắp mọi lĩnh vực về ham muốn để đọc giả có cái nhìn đa chiều nhiều nhất có thể. Ham muốn không xấu, nó đem đến cho ta nhiều cái lợi là đằng khác. Không có ham muốn thì chúng ta đều như những kẻ vô cảm, như xác không hồn và như sống mà không có mục đích mà thôi.
Nếu bạn đang tìm kiếm một liệu pháp thần kì có thể dập tắt ham muốn ngay lập tức, thì cuốn sách có thể sẽ gây thất vọng cho bạn phần nhiều. Tác giả không đem đến một công thức rập khuôn để bạn kiềm chế ham muốn của mình, việc của ông là trình bày những phương pháp mà các tôn giáo, hay các nhà hiền triết trước đó đã vận dụng, và việc của bạn là lựa chọn liệu pháp phù hợp và áp dụng. Tuy nhiên, Irvine đã nhấn mạnh rằng, điểm chung của tất cả những cách thức kể trên là phải biết đủ, đó là chìa khoá quan trọng nhất.
Mình khá thích cuốn sách, lối viết cực kì cuốn hút người đọc, không hề khô khan. Một cuốn sách nên đọc, và có trong tủ sách của mọi người. Dẫu cho nó có thể không đem đến cách chữa bệnh ham muốn mà bạn đang tìm kiếm, nhưng ít nhất nó sẽ cung cấp cho bạn kiến thức mới mà bạn không ngờ. -
Irvine started out with some strong definitions and details about desire. His research into the physiology and neurology behind brain messages helped as well as his instruction on desire in relation to the executive decisions in the cortex that can override desires. Unfortunately, in the middle chapters, he scanned different religious teachings about desire (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and the Amish and Oneida communities) and this became more of a survey than presenting genuine insight. He also related a chapter on "The Eccentrics," which included Nietzsche, Thoreau and the Seneca, Epicurus, and Marcus Aurelius but I was beginning to skim at this point.
He concludes by reminding me (the reader) where he would go with this--he did not provide any strong recommendations. Instead, again he surveyed the key points ("don't trust your desires," "be careful about valuing others for advice on desires," and "develop and understanding of desires") but finished by stating that no one, ever, conquers desires.
Maybe you will read all of it. I hope so. But I read most of it to know that I had my desire satiated.
I ended with contentment. -
No, it’s not all about ‘sex’... although that’s in there. This really was just a book about the human condition and the drivers for the ways we choose to live (coupled with those uncontrollable feelings)
Essentially a book on something I seem to stew on a lot. I often think about people who just live by pursuit of animalistic pleasures (food, fucking, fighting) without thought of the bigger picture of life around them. I’m torn because in one hand I think being a human with our introspective nature are r responsible for being the best we can be and doing as little harm...but that’s so not the case. Let us not forget we are but animals still. That’s the only way imI can mentally handle the state of affairs... by realizing developmentally people are just dumb animals. Anyways, that’s more a rant/late night backyard discussion.
It goes on to tie in religions and other beliefs and how people can/attempt to control their desires so as to either gain earthly or heavenly satisfaction. Things like social status, or acquisition of things, or sexual needs, along with basic needs (food, etc) and why those are huge drivers of desire.
Not a bad book. -
Tác giả nhắm tới một chủ đề hay và đầy tham vọng. Con người bởi thúc đẩy bởi ham muốn, nếu không có ham muốn dẫn lối chúng ta đơn giản là không thể tồn tại và nó được quy định sẵn trong gen không chỉ con người mà tất cả các động vật. Nhưng con người là động vật duy nhất đôi khi có thể kiểm soát hay điều hướng ham muốn tự nhiên.
Tác giả tiếp cận bằng con đường khoa học, phân tích ham muốn của chúng ta về mặt tâm lý, tiến hoá và sinh học,... Phần này có nhiều thông tin khá thú vị nhưng cũng chưa đủ sâu và cuốn hút với mình. Tiếp theo tác giả đưa ra những lời khuyên về kiểm soát ham muốn thông qua tôn giáo, triết học và những người lập dị. Chia sẻ về cách các đối tượng này đối mặt với ham muốn, nhưng chiều sâu vẫn chưa đủ. Đơn cử như phần về phật giáo mình đang thấy tác giả chưa có nắm rõ về đạo phật và có thể khai thác thêm nữa.
Tổng quan thì đây vẫn là một cuốn sách thú vị nếu mọi người muốn dừng lại để tìm hiểu về ham muốn của bản thân và có thể phần nào đó tách biệt nó ra một chút khỏi bản thể của mình. -
Mình định cho 3 sao, nhưng đọc tới phần Phật giáo mình rút lại 2 sao.
Phần 1,2 làm ổn. Tuy kiến thức không mới mẻ gì (vì mình đọc nhiều về vấn đề này rồi), nhưng nhìn chung khá có hệ thống, tuy phần viết về con gà mái được tạo ra bởi các kĩ sư chán vô cùng tận.
Cả cuốn sách mình mong chờ nhất phần giải thoát bản thân khỏi ham muốn, khỏi những phản ứng hoá học, di truyền, dẫn động thần kinh, những thứ được gene quy định sẵn, được môi trường rèn giũa thêm, những con quỷ vô hình vẫn luôn chi phối mình hằng ngày. Nhưng mình rất thất vọng.
Tự nhiên đọc 1 phát xoay qua tôn giáo, mà lại còn nông ơi là nông cơ. Không bàn các tôn giáo khác, đạo Phật thôi là mình thấy ối giồi ôi lắm rồi ấy.
Nhìn chung mình thấy cho 2 sao vẫn còn hào phóng. -
I have just finished reading this book. Thanks to this book, now I can observe my feelings and my thoughts more effectively, which means, I less unconsciously follow my emotions like before. Not every time, but many times a day, I can recognize where my emotions lead me to, and then I better control myself.
Some last chapters talking about how religions could help us less suffer. I totally agree when he mentioned Buddhism, because, thanks to Buddhism, my mental health has been improved. I don’t pray and consider Buddhism as a religion but a philosophy to live a better. The author also mentioned other religions but I don’t have any experience with any of these religions yet, so that I won’t give any comments on them.
Thank Irvine so much. -
Can we convince ourselves to "want what we already have"? (p. 6) Can we master our desires? I really liked this book. It helps to understand how we may be biologically created to want things. Our problem is trying to control those wants so that they don't control us. (There is a nice section about Thoreau in the chapter on eccentrics. Appropriate.)
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What I remember about this book, and I think it's this book but memory can be wrong, is that the author talks about boredom not being not having anything to do but rather not having any desire. And that has always stuck with me; I always think about that. I don't need to find something to do but rather something to want to do. Subtle difference.
I remember nothing else. -
This was better than I expected, maybe because of the practical self-help side of it that I didn't expect -- not only does Irvine discuss desire, he talks about different methods of dealing with desire, too. I think that I'll read it again and continue to find value in it.
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the beginning of the book defines desire as everything. We breath, it is desire. Our heart beats, it is desire. So, since everything is desire, nothing is not desire. A meaningless definition to build a book off of. It does not improve from there.
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A comprehensive book on desire! Very detailed and very very into desire, with backbone research and examples. Nothing to object! It was definitely a good reading. A little bit tireing now and then- so 4,5*.
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Although very detailed, the tone and various implications of the author were problematic.
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Boring... His book on Stoic philosophy “A Guide to the Good Life” was much better.
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Excellent book. I enjoyed it.
