How do we normally decide what to do, when there are various alternatives?
Owen: I always do whatever I feel like doing.
Yes but why do you feel like doing some things and not others?
Owen: Some things make you happy and others don't.
Right, so we generally do what makes us happy.
Owen: Sometimes people do something for the good of others.
True. This is called altruism. But you could argue that they are only doing the altruistic deed to make themselves feel happier - because they enjoy helping other people. This has been discussed by philosophers. [See any account of hedonism. Eg Nowell-Smith at page 135.]
Charlotte: I'm never allowed to do what I want to do. I hate going to school. I never feel like going.
That raises a complication. At your age, you have to go to school. That's the law. You could say that an illegal option wouldn't be chosen because, taking into account the punishment you would receive if caught, choosing that option would be likely to end up making you unhappy. Or you might prefer to say that illegal options should simply be excluded from consideration.
Owen: I don't really like going to school much either.
Well why do you go then?
Owen: So I can get a job later.
This is an important point. Owen could leave school if he wanted to, but he realises that in the long run he is better off getting an education. In other words, he has decided that if he takes a long term view, he will probably be happier if he stays at school now.
Some people have trouble taking a long term view of their own happiness. They don't seem to be able to get their thoughts off the present. Do you know what these people are called?
Charlotte: Bad memory?
No. That's dumb. You're thinking of people who have difficulty thinking backwards from the present. I'm talking about people who have trouble thinking forwards.
Owen: Bad imagination?
Yes that's closer, although it doesn't relate specifically to failing to take a long term view of your own happiness. I'm thinking of addicts. These are people whose idea of happiness is stuck in the present. People who are addicted to cigarettes smoke them because the cigarette makes them feel happier in the short term, even though they know (if they are forced to think about it) that in the longer term they will be much happier if they don't smoke. We see the same sort of thing in people who eat too much or drink too much beer, or gamble too much.
Owen: I smoke because I like it. But I'm not addicted. I could stop any time.
I don't think you've been listening to what I have been saying. Another term applied to addicts is "immature personality".
Owen: That seems a bit of a stuck up term to me.
Well, Owen certainly seems a bit defensive in this area. What I was leading up to was a way of working out what we ought to do, but we'll leave that for next time.
I'd better give Owen some specific counselling about his smoking.