The Ends of Thought

This is the second post in an informal series, the topic of which is “thinking.” If you have not read the first post (it's fairly short) I encourage you to do so before continuing.

Acute readers will have noticed that the ending of Don't Burn Your Hands! clearly states that “we've barely scratched the surface—more to come!” This obviously implies that we were not done. But that was in August and here we are closing in on December. So, if you would, allow me to apologize for my failure to publish this post in a timely manner.

Having explored a broad generalization of the concept of thinking (causal relationships), let us now begin to break it apart and examine it more closely. One of the first things we should notice is that thinking at this level is inherently teleological, that is, it is directed toward some end or goal. It does not wander aimlessly, but rather, seeks something specific. What exactly does that mean? If we take an example from the first post, specifically the example of placing one's hand on the heated coil of a stove, we know that this action will result in our hand being burned. But examining the causal relationship between the act of placing our hand on the coil and the result of our hand being burned is not properly an end in itself. Rather, the end of such examination (thinking) is presumably “how do I avoid burning my hand in the future?” In this case, the end which our thinking is directed toward would be the avoidance of burning one's hand.

For the purpose of these posts, the ends which we direct our thoughts toward will be called goods. Thus, the examination of the causal relationship between the act of placing one's hand on a heated coil and the effect of it being burned, is directed toward the good of avoiding such effects in the future. Most people will agree that it is desirable to not burn one's hand on the coil of a stove. In other words, it is seen to be good to avoid such things. However, no one deliberately directs their thoughts toward an end which they believe to be destructive or bad. Ends are always seen as goods in the mind of an individual. This leads us to the contrast between real and apparent goods.

A real or genuine good, is an end which is actually good for a person. The end of avoiding burning one's hand, for example, would be considered a real or genuine good. An apparent good, on the other hand, is a good which, while a person may think or believe it to be genuinely beneficial for them, in reality is not. We can easily conceive of a person who desires to eat chocolate cake at every meal. Such an end would no doubt be seen as a good in the mind of the individual, but would nonetheless prove to be the opposite. This inevitably leads us to yet another distinction. That of the short-term and long-term effects or consequences of different ends.

The short-term effect of my avoiding burning my hand can be seen as a real good because I do in fact avoid burning my hand. The long-term effect would be the same. In this case there is no difference between the short-term and long-term effects when it comes to the end of “avoiding burning my hand.” Can the same be said of the person whose end is the consumption of chocolate cake at every meal? The short-term effect of eating chocolate cake at every meal is simply the gratification of the desire to eat chocolate cake at every meal. Again, in the mind of the individual, this end is seen as a good. Even so, the long-term effect would be quite different, the very least of which would be mild health problems. In this case, the long-term effect of the end of “eating chocolate cake at every meal” reveals itself to be, not a real or genuine good, but on the contrary, an apparent good.

On the basis of what has been said, we can make several conclusions about the essence of goods. First, real goods are ends which actually produce beneficial effects, with an added emphasis on the long-term. In many circumstances, the short-term or immediate effect of a real good, is not seen to be good or beneficial at all. When a person who desires to lose weight begins to eat healthy or work out, for instance, the short-term circumstances are generally undesirable. Prior to working out this person was overweight. Now that they have begun working out, they are still overweight, but now they are tired and sore as well! Thus, this person must tolerate a short-term pain or discomfort in order to attain their desired end in the long-term, which is a real good.

Next, we find that apparent goods are ends which are expected to produce beneficial effects and generally emphasize the short-term. Put differently, apparent goods have a tendency to focus on the immediate effect of an end or good. Procrastinating on a project may seem to be desirable in the short-term, but oftentimes such ends produce hazardous effects in the long-term. As discussed in Lesson VIII: Self-Deception and Learning, a characteristic of self-deception is seen in fulfilling immediate desires while simultaneously ignoring future consequences.

A person may opt to tolerate a given pain or discomfort in the short-term, in order to enjoy a real good in the long term. While another person may solely be focused on an apparent good in the short-term, at the expense of the long-term. Herein lies the difference between good and bad choices. In one instance, a person takes into account the short-term and the long-term effects, and evaluates them as goods. In another, only the short-term or immediate effects are considered and evaluated as goods.

I do realize that this is a lot of information, but it is a necessary foundation to understand the forthcoming posts on this topic.