JamesOfSeattle wrote:Actually it’s not logically impossible, it’s just incomplete. What’s being described is competing desires, one of which (at least) is driven by intention.
It is not the "competing" desire, but the 'preceding' desire, that makes it logically impossible for us to do other than what we desire/intend.
And since it is impossible to do other than what we desire (as we would first have to have that desire to do so), then we are left with no option to do anything other than what our desires dictate.
Schopenhauer wrote:"A man can do as he wants, but cannot want what he wants" -- Arthur Schopenhauer
JamesOfSeattle wrote:There’s a good chance Schopenhauer is mistaken.
Logically it is sound. Schopenhauer makes the same point (as I do above), that it is logically impossible to defy our desires, because there is always a 'preceding' desire/want to any action we may take.
JamesOfSeattle wrote:People can change what they want…
...only if they
WANT to, i.e. only if there is a pre-existing (preceding) want to do so. This 'preceding' want makes it impossible for us to ever truly choose/select our own wants and actions resulting from these wants.
RJG wrote:Firstly, it is impossible to intentionally create one's urges and desires. [refer to Schopenhauer quote]. And secondly, since, one cannot intend their intentions, without the 'prior' intention to do so, "intentions" are therefore just 'passive' experiences (i.e. felt "urges").
One cannot "intentionally" do anything. One can only experience the intention (urge) to do something. ...any other interpretation [logically] defeats itself.
JamesOfSeattle wrote:I kinda think you’re brutalizing the word “intention” here. Obviously there is a difference between accidentally knocking a glass off a table and intentionally doing so.
Suppose I say “give me something to do”, and you say “move that chair one foot to the left”, and I move towards that chair with the intention to move it to the left, at what point did I develop the urge to move the chair to the left?
You never "developed" the urge. You only 'experienced' the urge.
Unfortunately, it is logically impossible for us to ever "develop" (cause, control, or choose) our own urges/wants/desires. Contrary to popular belief, these urges/desires/wants control us, ...we don't control them.