Desire and Vividness
Desire and Vividness
All of desire’s other properties are amplified when its object is vividly sensed or imagined. Chapter 7 uses this property of desire, Amplification by Vividness, to explain procrastination and akratic actions where we believe that an action is wrong but do it anyway. Desire responds more violently to vividly represented temptation than to less vividly represented goals we believe we ought to pursue. Vivid representations can affect our motivation even if we believe they’re inaccurate. They can make us act irrationally and play the role of “aliefs”. That desire’s ability to be amplified by vividness explains such a broad range of emotional and motivational phenomena is evidence for the Humean Theory.
Keywords: Desire, Vividness, Imagination, Procrastination, Akrasia, Irrationality, Alief
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