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Single Idea 20173

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 4. Boredom ]

Full Idea

Boredom combines apathy and restlessness. ...We crave stimulation, worthwhile activities, and objects that engage our interest.

Gist of Idea

Boredom is apathy and restlessness, yearning for something interesting

Source

John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 09.1)

Book Ref

Kekes,John: 'The Human Condition' [OUP 2010], p.188

The 65 ideas from John Kekes

23079 Liberal justice ignores desert, which is the essence of justice [Kekes]
23083 Liberal welfare focuses on need rather than desert [Kekes]
23081 Liberal basics are pluralism, freedom, rights, equality, and distributive justice - for autonomy [Kekes]
23082 Liberal distribution cares more about recipients than donors [Kekes]
23084 Are egalitarians too coercive, or not egalitarian enough, or lax over morality? [Kekes]
23085 The key liberal values are explained by the one core value, which is autonomy [Kekes]
23086 Liberals say we are only responsible for fully autonomous actions [Kekes]
23087 Much human evil is not autonomous, so moral responsibility need not be autonomous [Kekes]
23088 Evil is not deviation from the good, any more than good is a deviation from evil [Kekes]
23089 Evil people may not be autonomously aware, if they misjudge the situation [Kekes]
23090 Liberals assume people are naturally free, equal, rational, and morally good [Kekes]
23091 Why do liberals not see a much wider range of values as basic? [Kekes]
23092 Agents have little control over the capacities needed for liberal autonomy [Kekes]
23093 Moral and causal responsibility are not clearly distinct [Kekes]
23094 Ought implies can means moral responsibility needs autonomy [Kekes]
23096 Morality should aim to prevent all evil actions, not just autonomous ones [Kekes]
23095 Why should moral responsibility depend on autonomy, rather than social role or experience? [Kekes]
23097 What matters for morality is the effects of action, not the psychological causes [Kekes]
23099 It is said that if an agent is not autonomous then their evil actions don't reflect on their character [Kekes]
23098 Effects show the existence of moral responsibility, and mental states show the degree [Kekes]
23100 Collective responsibility conflicts with responsibility's requirement of authonomy [Kekes]
23101 Intuitions don't prove things; they just receptivity to interpretations [Kekes]
23102 Liberals are egalitarians, but in varying degrees [Kekes]
23103 Power is meant to be confined to representatives, and subsequent delegation [Kekes]
23105 It is not deplorable that billionaires have more than millionaires [Kekes]
23106 To rectify the undeserved equality, we should give men longer and women shorter lives [Kekes]
23108 Justice combines consistency and desert; treat likes alike, judging likeness by desert [Kekes]
23107 Prosperity is a higher social virtue than justice [Kekes]
23109 The veil of ignorance is only needed because people have bad motivations [Kekes]
23112 Liberals ignore contingency, and think people are good and equal, and institutions cause evil [Kekes]
23113 Sexual morality doesn't require monogamy, but it needs a group of sensible regulations [Kekes]
23114 The chief function of the state is to arbitrate between contending visions of the good life [Kekes]
23116 Citizenship is easier than parenthood [Kekes]
23118 Awareness of others' suffering doesn't create an obligation to help [Kekes]
23117 Love should be partial, and discriminate in favour of its object [Kekes]
23119 Sentimental love distorts its object [Kekes]
23120 The problem is basic insufficiency of resources, not their inequality [Kekes]
23121 It is just a fact that some people are morally better than others [Kekes]
19738 Values are an attempt to achieve well-being by bringing contingencies under control [Kekes]
20145 Values help us to control life, by connecting it to what is stable and manageable [Kekes]
20146 'Luck' is the unpredictable and inexplicable intersection of causal chains [Kekes]
20148 Equal distribution is no good in a shortage, because there might be no one satisfied [Kekes]
20149 To control our actions better, make them result from our attitudes, not from circumstances [Kekes]
20150 There are far more values than we can pursue, so they are optional possibilities [Kekes]
20151 Our attitudes include what possibilities we value, and also what is allowable, and unthinkable [Kekes]
20152 Unconditional commitments are our most basic convictions, saying what must never be done [Kekes]
20153 Doing the unthinkable damages ourselves, so it is more basic than any value [Kekes]
20154 Control is the key to well-being [Kekes]
20155 Society is alienating if it lacks our values, and its values repel us [Kekes]
20156 We are bound to regret some values we never aspired to [Kekes]
20158 Innumerable values arise for us, from our humanity, our culture, and our individuality [Kekes]
20157 Well-being needs correct attitudes and well-ordered commitments to local values [Kekes]
20159 Cultural values are interpretations of humanity, conduct, institutions, and evaluations [Kekes]
20161 The big value problems are evil (humanity), disenchantment (cultures), and boredom (individuals) [Kekes]
20162 Evil isn't explained by nature, by monsters, by uncharacteristic actions, or by society [Kekes]
20164 The ideal of an ideology is embodied in a text, a role model, a law of history, a dream of the past... [Kekes]
20163 Ideologies have beliefs about reality, ideals, a gap with actuality, and a program [Kekes]
20165 Reason and morality do not coincide; immorality can be reasonable, with an ideology [Kekes]
20169 An action may be intended under one description, but not under another [Kekes]
20170 Responsibility is unprovoked foreseeable harm, against society, arising from vicious character [Kekes]
20171 Practical reason is not universal and impersonal, because it depends on what success is [Kekes]
20173 Boredom is apathy and restlessness, yearning for something interesting [Kekes]
20172 Boredom destroys our ability to evaluate [Kekes]
20174 Relativists say all values are relative; pluralists concede much of that, but not 'human' values [Kekes]
20175 If morality has to be rational, then moral conflicts need us to be irrational and immoral [Kekes]