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Full Idea
One should bring this question to bear on all one's desires: what will happen to me if what is sought by desire is achieved, and what will happen if it is not?
Gist of Idea
What happens to me if I obtain all my desires, and what if I fail?
Source
Epicurus (Principle Doctrines ('Kuriai Doxai') (frags) [c.290 BCE], 71)
Book Ref
Epicurus: 'The Epicurus Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B. /Gerson,L. [Hackett 1994], p.40
A Reaction
Yet another example of Epicurus moving up a level in his thinking about ethical issues, as in Idea 14517 and Idea 14519. The mark of a true philosopher. This seems to be a key idea for wisdom - to think further ahead than merely what you desire.
Related Ideas
Idea 14517 We value our own character, whatever it is, and we should respect the characters of others [Epicurus]
Idea 14519 It is a great good to show reverence for a wise man [Epicurus]
| 2681 | Aristotle is unsure about eudaimonia because he is unsure what people are [Nagel on Aristotle] |
| 5132 | Goods like pleasure are chosen partly for happiness, but happiness is chosen just for itself [Aristotle] |
| 30 | Happiness is perfect and self-sufficient, the end of all action [Aristotle] |
| 14522 | What happens to me if I obtain all my desires, and what if I fail? [Epicurus] |
| 22985 | Everyone wants happiness [Augustine] |
| 6210 | Life has no end (not even happiness), because we have desires, which presuppose a further end [Hobbes] |
| 1386 | A concern for happiness is the inevitable result of consciousness [Locke] |
| 1454 | Morality is not about making ourselves happy, but about being worthy of happiness [Kant] |
| 21061 | Duty does not aim at an end, but gives rise to universal happiness as aim of the will [Kant] |
| 2891 | Only the English actually strive after happiness [Nietzsche] |
| 4500 | It is a sign of degeneration when eudaimonistic values begin to prevail [Nietzsche] |
| 4558 | We have no more right to 'happiness' than worms [Nietzsche] |
| 18307 | I want my work, not happiness! [Nietzsche] |
| 7983 | Good versus evil has been banefully reduced to happiness versus misfortune [Baudrillard] |