Er, my point was that greed isn't so much a function of the object of a desire as the nature of that desire.
Then we'd have to know the nature of the desire. Even if we did, I'm not sure how that would work. Would it mean that the desire is prone to excess? The most obvious components - desire proportional to the importance of the object, or desire inherent in how greedy you are in general - were already given, and you say that those are not it..
Yeah, but this desire does not seem to be a matter of knowledge or the lack thereof. Then what is it you want when you say "I want you to exist"? At the surface of it, it would appear that that want or desire would be fulfilled by you knowing that I exist (at the moment that you consider it, that is). Though I suppose it could be "I want you to remain existing", which would not be directly provable, or "I want you to be around [for my own reasons]", which is more of a feedback thing than a knowledge thing.
You might be on to something there. Not in the direction of not knowing whether or not a person still exists, but in the direction of some vital confirmation being held out of reach by that person.
Intentionally, or just that you cannot reach this confirmation? And would a single confirmation be sufficient, or is it - like for the black hole effect - something that would require repeated confirmation (in the case of the black hole effect, replies from the person in question)?
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-10-07 05:50 pm (UTC)Then we'd have to know the nature of the desire. Even if we did, I'm not sure how that would work. Would it mean that the desire is prone to excess? The most obvious components - desire proportional to the importance of the object, or desire inherent in how greedy you are in general - were already given, and you say that those are not it..
Yeah, but this desire does not seem to be a matter of knowledge or the lack thereof.
Then what is it you want when you say "I want you to exist"? At the surface of it, it would appear that that want or desire would be fulfilled by you knowing that I exist (at the moment that you consider it, that is). Though I suppose it could be "I want you to remain existing", which would not be directly provable, or "I want you to be around [for my own reasons]", which is more of a feedback thing than a knowledge thing.
You might be on to something there. Not in the direction of not knowing whether or not a person still exists, but in the direction of some vital confirmation being held out of reach by that person.
Intentionally, or just that you cannot reach this confirmation? And would a single confirmation be sufficient, or is it - like for the black hole effect - something that would require repeated confirmation (in the case of the black hole effect, replies from the person in question)?