Second Order Desires In Frankfurt

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Frankfurt had two thesis. The first one was that you can only be a person if you have second order desires. The secondary thesis was that a person has free will only if they can change their actions into anything they desire. In the article Frankfurt first starts off by answer the question what does it mean to be human. He answers this simply by stating that us humans have the ability to have second order desires. Second order desires are the actions that you want to happen. So first order desires lead to actions such as eating or sleeping. Second order desires are what you want your first order desire to be. For instance if you are eating too much and want to cut back on the food you eat that would be a second order desire. Frankfurt also states that …show more content…

Frankfurt then designate human characteristics that would make you not a person and calls them Wontons. Frankfurt states that if you are a Wanton you can not be a person. A Wanton has the characteristics of : doesn't care bout his will, desires move him in either direction without him being concerned, and they don’t follow their strongest desires. He states that young children and even some adults are Wontons. Frankfurt then gives an example of two types of drug addicts to support his claim. He states that a unwilling drug addict will have conflicts about whether or not he wants to do drugs again but his second order desire is to quit doing drugs. Either way though his will is satisfied because whichever option wins becomes his will even though deep down he may not want it. The Wanton drug addict could care less if he stopped taking drugs or continue to take them thus he does not have will because there is nothing he really desires. Since he doesn’t have will he is not a person yet. Frankfurt next thesis states that free will is the ability to change your actions without negative

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