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Tom Trelogan
Forum Admin
1368 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 28 2011 : 06:53:06 AM
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This is our third big question. Let the discussion begin.
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Evan Taylor
Fledgling
6 Posts |
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Tom Trelogan
Forum Admin
1368 Posts |
Posted - Mar 29 2011 : 05:17:58 AM
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Very elegant, Evan! It's hard to see how one might improve on your answer, but I have no doubt that folks will try! Just one question: when you say that you have to desire something to be turned on, do you mean to suggest that these are two things and that the one (desiring something) is responsible for the other (being turned on), or do you mean to suggest that being turned on just is desiring something?
(A hint to others about one possible improvement: perhaps what a thing has to be in order to be desirable is good, and perhaps everything that is good is beautiful -- except, I would think, for the highest good. See, in connection with this suggestion, Evan's other recent post in the thread "In Praise of Love" as well as my response to that.) |
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Evan Taylor
Fledgling
6 Posts |
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Tom Trelogan
Forum Admin
1368 Posts |
Posted - Mar 29 2011 : 8:18:21 PM
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| Evan, why my suggestion (I presume you mean my suggestion that "what a thing has to be in order to be desirable is good, and perhaps everything that is good is beautiful -- except, I would think, for the highest good") made you think of what you say it made you think of is obscure to me, and so is your response to my question. How is the fact that track is something that doesn't possess the ability to be turned on or to desire relevant to that question? I don't see its relevance to that at all. |
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Michelle Guzman
Newcomer
4 Posts |
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Michelle Guzman
Newcomer
4 Posts |
Posted - Apr 06 2011 : 7:55:26 PM
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| What turns people on? I believe what turns people on is the desire to have a purpose in life. No matter what an individual finds to be beautiful and good, in their sense, is still pursued because of the drive to obtain ultimate happiness. The want to be something or somebody, to dream, to inspire, to be good and just, and to have reason are all part of what turns people on- whatever their purpose may be. |
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Melissa Robertson
Fledgling
6 Posts |
Posted - Apr 07 2011 : 8:03:06 PM
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| I think Michelle is correct. That running can be desirable to some while others run because they want results of weight loss or to stay healthy. The ones who enjoy running do it for more of an immediate gratification. This can be desirable and can turn people on in the sense that it is motivating and refreshing. |
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Mohamud Mohamed
Fledgling
7 Posts |
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Evan Taylor
Fledgling
6 Posts |
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Tom Trelogan
Forum Admin
1368 Posts |
Posted - Apr 10 2011 : 11:29:20 PM
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| That the desire for something is what turns you on is one of the things Mohamud said, Evan. The other thing he said is that what you desire--what you find desirable--is what turns you on. Aand actually, it's not just Mohamud who's said both of these things. This is really something we need to talk about, because it seems to me that they can't both be true. I'm not sure you weren't already saying both these things in your original post, and in fact that's why I asked the question I did on the 29th. |
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Evan Taylor
Fledgling
6 Posts |
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Monika Newton
Newcomer
4 Posts |
Posted - Apr 13 2011 : 6:49:17 PM
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OK. Now I see what our discussion today was all about. I still have to say that desire and what turns us on are two different things. And I cannot say that I agree with Evan when he says, "You have to desire something to be turned on." I believe that you have to be turned on by something to desire it. Tom desires philosophy, the ongoing conversation and participating in it; the prospect of participating in it turns him on, so he desires it. So I thought about it in another way. Let's take Pavlov's dogs again. Instead of ringing a bell, we smack the dogs in the nose every time we present food. The dogs will initially desire the food, or desire to eat the food because it turns them on. But I am pretty sure (although I have no proof) that the dogs would soon no longer desire the food; they would become afraid of it -- not because they no longer need it, and not because eating the yummies is no longer a good thing, but because they will start to associate food with the smack in the nose. And a smack on the nose, I am sure, turns only a very rare dog on. The dogs would still need to eat to survive, but would food still turn them on? I don't think so. They might eventually eat to survive, but they'd do it with their tails tucked and without much joy. I cannot say I have seen many dogs turn away from treats no matter how many they have had, but I can imagine that under the right (actually very wrong) conditions a dog would cower when presented with a treat. Thinking about this is hard enough, but to explain what I am trying to say is even harder. I hope what I've written makes some sense....
[Lightly edited to enhance readability -TT] |
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Mohamud Mohamed
Fledgling
7 Posts |
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Monika Newton
Newcomer
4 Posts |
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Mohamud Mohamed
Fledgling
7 Posts |
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Monika Newton
Newcomer
4 Posts |
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Kyle Taplin
Fledgling
5 Posts |
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Tom Trelogan
Forum Admin
1368 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2011 : 08:23:56 AM
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Kyle: what you've presented here is an interesting argument, but I wonder: can you describe your desire, as you do, as "what drives you to get what turns you on"? The first thing you say here about what turned you on so far as your current studies are concerned is that it was the idea of studying Sports and Exercise Science. Think about that. Your desire isn't driving you to get that idea, is it? Could it be, then, that it wasn't really that idea that turned you on even though you've said it was. Later in your post -- right at the end -- you say that what "ultimately" turns you on is the possibility of becoming a trainer. It's maybe a little more plausible to say that your desire is driving you to "get" -- to secure -- that possibility. So if that's really what turned you on even right at the outset, then maybe you can say that your desire is "what drives you to get what turns you on."
As for your most recent exchange, Monika and Mohaumud, I wonder if you're really disagreeing with one another. What you say repeatedly, Monika, is that (as you put it right at the outset) "desire and what turns us on are two different things." Do you actually disagree with this, Mohamud? What you suggest is that "what turns us on [is] different from that which we desire." That's not inconsistent with what Monika has said, because desire and its object -- desire and that which we desire -- are not the same thing. If I want a cookie, my wanting it isn't at all the same thing as the cookie! |
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Melissa Robertson
Fledgling
6 Posts |
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Kyle Taplin
Fledgling
5 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2011 : 9:15:25 PM
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Tom: I think I understand where you are coming from. This major choice turned me on, and then I desired to go farther into it by studying it in college and, later in life (if all goes as planned), becoming some type of trainer. I wouldn't say that desire led me to the idea of Sports and Exercise Science as you said. I had been told about this major and decided to look into it to see if, in the end, it turned me on and became something I would desire to go further into. The idea of this major had to have turned me on at the start in order for me to desire to study it in college. At first, I didn't know what I wanted to do with the major, as there are many different roads you can take. As I have gotten more into it, I believe that what turns me on now from Exercise Science is to become a trainer. So what originally turned me on (the major choice), led me to desire to study it further, and that, in turn, led me to be turned on by what I could become from this major (a trainer).
[Lightly edited to enhance readability -TT] |
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What Turns People On?
