tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post3049682162819607203..comments2023-09-25T04:26:51.568-06:00Comments on The Barefoot Bum: The Paradox of Motivation and MESRLarry Hamelinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-742150728770167592008-03-26T04:32:00.000-06:002008-03-26T04:32:00.000-06:00I introduce the PoM as "puzzling" only to introduc...I introduce the PoM as "puzzling" only to introduce motivational conflicts and rebut the simplistic notion of the unified mind.<BR/><BR/>But motivation is a boolean at the end of the day: People actually do only a finite number of things at a time, and do not do an infinite number of things. As Yoda says, "Either do or do not; there is no try."<BR/><BR/>Before the end of the day, motivation isn't even a continuum. It's a <I>competition</I> between internal mental processes that have very different, often mutually contradictory goals.<BR/><BR/>The main point is that there is no separation between the <I>evaluation</I> of what is good, and the <I>motivation</I> to do things; evaluation and motivation are two ways of talking about the same mental process. You can't talk about some belief system — such as religion — that <I>just</I> motivates you; to motivate <I>is</I> to evaluate and vice versa.Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-16718204501103490802008-03-25T22:53:00.000-06:002008-03-25T22:53:00.000-06:00Yeah, I think Kelly pretty much summed it up. I'm ...Yeah, I think Kelly pretty much summed it up. I'm struggling to come up with a response, because I'm struggling to see what the problem is you're trying to demonstrate. You seem to think that motivation is a boolean on/off value, whereas it looks like a continuum to me. And apart from that, if you take into account multiple competing motivations ("I shouldn't eat a donut, but I will eat one"), I don't see the problem that your statement-template is supposed to present.Micah Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02255468220431639344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-55662619590590893932008-03-25T20:13:00.000-06:002008-03-25T20:13:00.000-06:00I don't think you need that proviso to clarify the...I don't think you need that proviso to clarify the so-called paradox. The statement "I don't want to do X, but I will do X" is not at all puzzling as it stands because some level of desire has to be assumed for any action taken.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com