Philosophically, what is desire?

Question

Philosophically, what is desire?

Answer 1

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Answer 2

An instinctual predisposition which must be gounded in cognitive awareness.

Answer 3

Depends on what you mean by philosophy. For me philosophy is a task of interpretation or clarification that happens to concentrate on certain "fundamental" problems or puzzles. In this light, I need only a definition for desire, really a sort of short description: desire is a species of bias. That's a beginning. The less we have to say the better.

Now those who insist on mixing philosophy with speculative cosmology (talking about forces) might have a more interesting picture of what desire could be. Here, the more we have to say, the "better."

Answer 4

In Buddhism desire is attachment

Definition: Exaggerated not wanting to be separated from someone or something. (Exact opposite of Aversion) Because the label of "pleasant" is very relative and based upon limited information, Attachment includes an aspect of exaggeration or "projection".

The Buddha compared desires to being in debt. If you owe money to the bank for your house, every month you have to pay. In the end, you will own the house. With sensual desires however, you cannot pay off the debt; they arise again and again. Hunger, thirst, lust for s*x, warmth, coolness, they all come back again and again. Trying to fulfil our desires is like carrying water to the sea; a never ending task and ultimately completely useless.

"Desire can be compared to fire. If we grasp fire, what happens? Does it lead to happiness?

If we say: "Oh, look at that beautiful fire! Look at the beautiful colors! I love red and orange; they're my favorite colors," and then grasp it, we would find a certain amount of suffering entering the body. And then if we were to contemplate the cause of that suffering we would discover it was the result of having grasped that fire. On that information, we would hopefully, then let the fire go. Once we let fire go then we know that it is something not to be attached to.

This does not mean we have to hate it, or put it out. We can enjoy fire, can't we? It's nice having a fire, it keeps the room warm, but we do not have to burn ourselves in it."

(Ajahn Sumedho)