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    Bernard Williams' argument that categorical desires groun... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→It is prudent to eschew projects that cannot possibly be completed during the course of a normal lifetime.

    Bernard Williams' argument that categorical desires ground a person's reasons for living applies equally to indefinitely extended projects.

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    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Categorical desires (desires we have for their own sake) motivate action regardless of duration; temporal extension doesn't diminish their categorical nature.
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    • 2.Many indefinitely extended projects (raising children, artistic pursuits, scientific inquiry) function psychologically as categorical desires grounding reasons to live.
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    • 3.If categorical desires ground reasons for living in finite projects, the logical structure applies equally to open-ended ones; duration is irrelevant to the grounding relation.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Indefinitely extended projects risk losing categorical status through habituation, shifting toward instrumental maintenance of empty routines over time.
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    • 2.Williams emphasizes categorical desires as grounding reasons *to continue living*; indefinite extension may undermine the urgency and meaning that initially justified them.
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    • 3.Finite projects have determinate endpoints providing narrative closure; indefinite projects may struggle to sustain the desire-structure Williams describes without natural conclusions.
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    Connections

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    Afterlife & Death1 linked

    Related

    Categorical desires (desires we have for their own sake) motivate action regardl...Finite projects have determinate endpoints providing narrative closure; indefini...If categorical desires ground reasons for living in finite projects, the logical...Indefinitely extended projects risk losing categorical status through habituatio...
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    It is prudent to eschew projects that cannot possibly be completed during the co...Many indefinitely extended projects (raising children, artistic pursuits, scient...Williams emphasizes categorical desires as grounding reasons *to continue living...

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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    1 edit