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PHIL 100-004 - Introduction to Philosophy

What Turns People On?

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Keith Carlisle
Newcomer

3 Posts

Posted - Apr 18 2011 : 10:36:26 PM

Tom and Kyle, I don't know whether this relates to your conversation but today in our group, we replaced the term "beautiful" with the term "captivating." I think there are things that can turn us on even though we don't desire them. I also think they can be the same in some instances. As an example of the first of these two things, consider this: I see people playing a sport I used to love to compete in. It turns me on when I see a game in progress. I don't want to play because I know I'm not in shape and would probably injure myself seriously. An example of of the second thing I mentioned is this: say I desire a fruit pie and the pie turns me on. In this case, I find myself captivated by something and then I start to desire it and/or am turned on by it. My major is the same as Kyle's (Sport and Exercise Science). My original desire was to push my body to the limits and test my knowledge of the body. Then I heard of the program here at UNC and I was captivated by it and then, as I did more research, I realized I was being turned on by it. So I think that in many cases in which we're turned on by something, we start out by being captivated by it and then we either are turned on by it and it's our desire, or it turns us on but even so, something about it makes it undesirable.

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Nick Urbaniak
Newcomer

3 Posts

Posted - Apr 19 2011 : 10:48:49 AM

In our discussion group on Monday we were discussing this topic, and I thought we came across some interesting ideas. What I was thinking is that what turns people on is the fulfillment of your desire. An example: suppose I want to go play football. Sitting here desiring that does not turn me on, but what would turn me on would be fulfilling my desire and actually playing football. We talked about another example in our group on Monday as well: if I desire a coat because it's cold, that doesn't mean that I am turned on by sitting here with no coat.

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Mohamud Mohamed
Fledgling

7 Posts

Posted - Apr 20 2011 : 1:09:41 PM

I think desire is the drive that leads people to want to achieve whatever it is that they want to achieve in their lives. Without it, I think one will not even know what one wants to achieve.

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Chris Rice
Newcomer

1 Posts

Posted - Apr 20 2011 : 2:42:20 PM

I would like to take a new direction with this topic, and may be way out there.

I believe that it is sensing someing that turns us on initially. In order to feel desire, we must use one of our senses to to be turned on. This includes seeing a beautiful girl, hearing a beautiful piece of music, feeling an amazing texture, smelling a head-turning perfume, and tasting your favorite food. People who are blind may desire to see, but because this is not possible for them, they depend on their other senses in order to fill that void; hearing, taste, smell and touch. One might counter that we can be turned on by thoughts or memories, but our memories are what we remember sensing at the time, such as standing on top of a mountain, feeling the wind swirling around us, seeing the landscape spread out in front of us and smelling clean, crisp air. One might also counter that if one had no senses, one would still desire to eat just to survive. I'm not sure there's any justification for saying this: without any senses, one could hardly continue to exist unless someone with sense was there to support you, handing you the food that you needed to survive. You'd be entirely incapable of locating food or water on your own.

Sensation is not only what turns us on; it's also the thing that brings about desire. Without our senses life in general would be impossible for us.

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Devon Seperich
Newcomer

2 Posts

Posted - Apr 21 2011 : 11:42:39 PM

Group 2

Betsy was gone on Wednesday when we went outside to talk, so I jumped in to mediate. Here is how our conversation went:

Chris opened it up with his opinion that sensations are what turn us on. For example the smell of a girl, or the sound of a song you really like. Even color and emotions have the ability to turn us on in some form.

Many in the group agreed with Chris, saying that sensations are the most physical form of desire and are the things that make us conscious of it. We can even be turned on just thinking about a sensation, such as thinking about the touch of soft and bare skin. Cole brought up that it can be a mixture of senses that can turn us on as well. Devin agreed, saying that it is something that we often take for granted, but without any senses at all, we would not desire anything at all.

Then the discussion veered in the direction of handicaps and disabilities. Does a blind or deaf person experience desire in the same way a person with all of his or her senses does? Eileen said that like a voice over the phone or a character in a book, most people, handicapped or not, have the ability to imagine what something can look like, and in the case of a the blind, they do have the ability to experience desire through emotions. She also brought up the fact that other senses often compensate. A blind person often has a heightened sense of hearing and touch for example.

This was right about the time class ended and we ran out of time for further discussion.

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Spenser Loos
Fledgling

13 Posts

Posted - Apr 22 2011 : 09:26:50 AM

Group 5

Group 5 continued its discussion on the object of desire and what turns people on. Monica started off the conversation by asking the group to fill her in on what she missed on Monday and the general consensus was that there is a distinction between the object of desire and what turns a person on. To this Monica responded that "We need to figure out what makes a person turned on or is it the need for something?" Scott's reply was "not everything turns us on." I think what Scott was trying to convey to Monica was that there are many things we do not need, therefore there are many things we do not desire. Monica responded by saying that she merely wants to ask, "What has the ability to turn us on and fulfill a need?"

At this point Ty chimed in with this: "I want a million dollars! The money for me is what I want, while the desire I have is to live a life of less stress, and money would make things easier for me." With this, Ty meant to suggest that wants and desires are two separate things.

While I agree that they're separate, I also feel they are related. Ty wants a million dollars! Sure who wouldn't! This want will make possible his desire to be comfortably well off. I think this helps in our discussion by showing that while wants and desires are distinct they still remain somewhat similar.

However Scott added that when wants and needs are different things, and Ty agreed. Monica mentioned that Ty's want of money was rather a need, the need to "feel rich." Ty's response was that "a need is something you can't live without."

Rob at this point entered the conversation, stating that "Desire satisfies a need and that a need is the outlet for desire." This seems substantial in that Rob feels needs are facilitated by a desire and that needs help us to reach a desire. Ty then asked "What is the difference between the desire to be in school as opposed to the need to be in school?" I think what Ty was asking is this: A person may or may not desire to be educated, but it may be that everyone needs to be educated. Is there a difference between these two or are they in fact one and the same?

Zach tried to answer this question be relating saying that "There is a difference between being needing to be in school and needing food!" I believe what Zach was saying was that there is a difference between needs for various things since some things may be necessities. Following this Ty went back to questioning Monica by asking "What is it that you need?" Monica replied by asking Ty what he needed. Ty then gave another example: "Let's say I have a need to beat someone's ass! I have the desire to kick but then and the need to do it is present!" Scott then asked the question that really captivated us all and that was: "Which comes first, desire or need?" At this point we ran out of time, so we couldn't dive head first into this question. but it is one I am sure we will seek to answer in our next discussion!

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Megan Sargent
Fledgling

17 Posts

Posted - Apr 22 2011 : 4:16:00 PM

Here's my take on desire and what turns us on:

They are two different things, though they are two very closely related things. I think in order for something to turn you on we have to desire it. It seems ridiculous to say that you can be turned on by something you don't desire. But you can desire things that don't turn you on. I wake up every morning wanting a cup of coffee, but coffee doesn't turn me on.

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Kyle Taplin
Fledgling

5 Posts

Posted - Apr 22 2011 : 7:36:02 PM

Megan: What made you like coffee in the first place? Something made you like coffee, and I would guess that the taste of it turned you on initially. If that's so, then you were turned on by the taste of coffee and now you desire it because of its taste or whatever turned you on about it. You don't just desire something for no reason. Something initially turns you on about it.

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Megan Sargent
Fledgling

17 Posts

Posted - Apr 22 2011 : 8:25:37 PM

Kyle: In my case, I began drinking coffee after I started working at a coffee shop. It is just what you did. Coffee is definitely an acquired taste. Now it's a habit, but it didn't start like that.

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Kyle Taplin
Fledgling

5 Posts

Posted - Apr 24 2011 : 1:26:37 PM

Megan: That makes sense. Do you think you really desire coffee then?

Scott Crawford
Newcomer

3 Posts

Posted - Apr 24 2011 : 8:00:56 PM

I guess I have a question I kind of want to pose to everyone: once you have desired something or been turned on by it, can you completely lose that desire -- a desire that has been driving you for some time? Or will we always be turned on by this thing?

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Spenser Loos
Fledgling

13 Posts

Posted - Apr 24 2011 : 8:30:45 PM

Scott: that's a very good question. Honestly I don't know if we can lose that desire or not. If it's a really strong desire, then it might be something that we never lose entirely. Then again if the desire was there for something but it wasn't all that strong, then it's also possible that we could after some time no longer be turned on by what we desired. My question is this: have you ever desired something only to find, once you've gotten what you wanted, that it was it something you did not like?

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Blake Lucio
Newcomer

3 Posts

Posted - Apr 25 2011 : 11:50:35 AM

Scott, that is a very good question. We all have desires for certain things; for example I had a real passion for football. I was a good athlete in high school and chose to walk on to the UNC football team. I injured my shoulder during spring practice and decided to stop playing. I had a powerful desire to play football from the time that I was six years old, and even though I gave up playing, my fondness for football will always be there, whether I play or just watch football on t.v. I will always love football. So the answer to your question, I believe, is that whether we give up doing what we wanted to do for a long time or not, we will continue to have a remnant of that desire for the rest of our lives.

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Nathan Thurlow
Newcomer

4 Posts

Posted - Apr 25 2011 : 2:08:37 PM

Spenser: regarding your answer to Scott's question, I would propose this question to you.... I agree with most of what you've said, but what do you think about nicotine? Do people desire nicotine or are they just addicted to it? What is the difference between addiction and desire? It seems to me that if you really desire to do something, as Blake said, it will always remain in you whether you are participating in the activity or just watching, but I have seen people quit smoking cold turkey. So I guess my question is, did these people really want to smoke in the first place or were they just addicted? Or have they just proved that they're stronger than their desire?

Any thoughts?

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Spenser Loos
Fledgling

13 Posts

Posted - Apr 25 2011 : 3:02:10 PM

Nathan: in regards to your first question as to whether people desire nicotine or are rather just addicted to it I would argue that at first it is desire and later becomes addiction. The first time they come into contact with nicotine they may have a desire to try it. After the first time they may not like it and may choose not to try it again as I said in my earlier post. However if after they tried nicotine whether they smoked or chewed it and found it was something they enjoyed, I think the desire for more becomes apparent until after a while the desire gives way to an addiction.

As for your second question: what is the difference between addiction and desire?

As far as desire goes, which I feel we are still attempting to define, I think it's a drive we have to satisfy a particular need. In that sense I believe a desire differs from an addiction in that an addiction is a habit or an acquired dependency upon something.

Finally your third question -- do these people actually desire smoking or are they stronger then desire? did these people really want to smoke in the first place or were they just addicted? Or have they just proved that they're stronger than their desire?

I think it really depends on the person. Of course this answer is a bit on the fence so I'll go further and take up the position that they do not desire to smoke but that smoking has become a habit and that those who choose to quit, quit because they have a desire to quit, not necessarily because they are stronger than their desire. They have another desire. Does that make sense? Ha ha.

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Kyle Taplin
Fledgling

5 Posts

Posted - Apr 25 2011 : 7:02:15 PM

Scott: I would agree with everyone else who's responded so far to the question you asked. I would only add that I think one's initial desire can be overtaken by another desire. I would go back to the example I used earlier, the example of the subject I am currently studying. My first desire was to be a meteorologist. When Sports and Exercise Science was introduced to me, I found I had a new desire to follow that path. Now, I have no desire to be a meteorologist at all.

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Keith Carlisle
Newcomer

3 Posts

Posted - Apr 25 2011 : 9:47:42 PM

Blake: I agree. I was and still am very turned on by football and my desire to compete. I bring up my desire to compete because I believe that that's what drives me to play a sport. Without the desire to compete I wouldn't like to play any sport at all. So while various sports may turn me on I think that my real desire is to compete with other people no matter what the sport may be. Would you agree with that? Our real desire was to compete, and we found the sport most capable of satisfying that desire, aka football.

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Megan Sargent
Fledgling

17 Posts

Posted - Apr 25 2011 : 10:23:05 PM

Kyle: I do find myself desiring coffee, though this probably has something to do with the physiological need I've acquired for caffeine. That's not quite the same thing as desire.

Scott: I think that we can desire something for a time and then no longer desire it. Sometimes this has to do with our knowledge or ignorance concerning the thing we are desiring. I'll give a personal example. I had extremely strong feelings for someone. We spent a lot of time together and I learned a lot about him. Then one night I learned something about him -- not anything bad, but something that made me realize it would never work. Ever. I had a bit of a cry, and then I was OK. I no longer desired to be with him. I still appreciate him as a friend and always will.

The point is that I think we can lose desires for various reasons. Sometimes we may just have a change in taste or, for lack of a better term, can grow up. Think of something all the things you desired five years ago. Do you still desire them all?

Nathan: Addiction and desire are two very different things in my opinion. I think it's easier to curb desire than to curb an addiction. Desire is more than a physiological "need." It has many more facets to it -- intellectual, emotional, maybe even spiritual. Desiring something and not getting it can lead to some emotional pain. With addiction, especially severe, long-term addiction, there can actually be physical pain and trauma when the thing to which one is addicted is not available. There are narcotic addicts who die from not getting the substance they're addicted to. With nicotine, let's say smoking, there is the physiological addiction, but there is also just the habit of smoking.

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Zachary Nash
Newcomer

3 Posts

Posted - Apr 26 2011 : 1:58:03 PM

I personally don't think desire is what turns people on. I think the feeling you get after you get what you want is what turns you on.

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Spenser Loos
Fledgling

13 Posts

Posted - Apr 26 2011 : 11:31:01 PM

Zach: I agree with you! Here's a personal example: I enjoy playing my bass guitar. For me the desire is to play and yet the feeling I have while playing is what turns me on. I enjoy getting pumped up while playing my favorite music.

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