Why Do We Want What We Want?
The Art of Manliness7 Jun 2021

Why Do We Want What We Want?

Why do we want the things we want? While we'll offer up plenty of reasons to explain our choices, my guest today says the real reason we want what we want is this: other people in our lives want those same things.

His name is Luke Burgis and he's studied philosophy, theology, and classical literature, works as a business entrepreneur, investor, and educator, and is the author of Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life. Luke and I discuss how our desires are strongly mimetic, that is, imitative, and how there are two groups of people that act as models of desire for us: celebrities and public figures who are distant from us, and friends, family, and colleagues who are close to us. Luke explains why it's actually that latter group where we experience the most rivalry and conflict, because the more similar we are, the more we end up competing for the same things, the more envy we experience, and the more we want to differentiate ourselves from the crowd, even though the areas in which to do so can be increasingly small. In fact, someone can be a model of desire, not only in influencing us to imitate them, but in motivating us to act in the opposite way. Luke shares how mimetic desire can be both a negative and destructive or a positive and productive force, and offers advice on how to harness it for the latter purpose by humbly recognizing the way other people are influencing our wants, and using that knowledge to opt out of games we don't want to play, utilize the healthy aspects of competition without allowing it to get us off track, and intentionally choose worthy, even transcendent, models of desire to emulate.

Get the show notes at aom.is/wanting.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episoder(1160)

Episode #16: Conquering Debt with J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly

Episode #16: Conquering Debt with J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly

Welcome back to another episode of The Art of Manliness Podcast! In this week's edition we talk to J.D. Roth, founder of the personal finance blog, Get Rich Slowly. Money Magazine named Get Rich Slowl...

3 Apr 201421min

Episode #15: Man Stories with Kasper

Episode #15: Man Stories with Kasper

Welcome back to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast. This week we return to our series called Man Stories where we interview a different gentleman and ask him what it means to be a man. Th...

3 Apr 201420min

Episode #14: Men to Boys and the Making of Modern Immaturity

Episode #14: Men to Boys and the Making of Modern Immaturity

Welcome back to the Art of Manliness Podcast! In this week's episode we interview Dr. Gary Cross, author of the book Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity. We discuss the history behind the tre...

3 Apr 201423min

Episode #13: Man Stories with Liam Strain

Episode #13: Man Stories with Liam Strain

Welcome back to the Art of Manliness Podcast! In this episode we return to our series called "Man Stories" where every other week we interview a different gentleman and ask him what it means to be a m...

3 Apr 20149min

Episode #12: Interview With Santa Claus

Episode #12: Interview With Santa Claus

Welcome back to the Art of Manliness podcast. This week we bring you a special holiday edition of the Art of Manliness podcast with a very special guest: Santa Claus! Or at least a guy who works as Sa...

3 Apr 201417min

Episode #11: Badasses with Ben Thompson

Episode #11: Badasses with Ben Thompson

Welcome back to another episode of The Art of Manliness Podcast! In this edition we talk to Ben Thompson, author of the new book, Badass: A Relentless Onslaught of the Toughest Warlords, Vikings, Samu...

3 Apr 201419min

Episode #10: Man Stories with Carlos Infante

Episode #10: Man Stories with Carlos Infante

Welcome back to another episode of The Art of Manliness podcast! We took a short break because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but we're back with another edition of Man Stories. In this episode we talk ...

3 Apr 201418min

Episode #9: Wayne Levine and BetterMen.org

Episode #9: Wayne Levine and BetterMen.org

Welcome back to another edition of The Art of Manliness podcast! In this episode we talk to Wayne Levine. Wayne is the founder of BetterMen.org where he offers mentoring for men and facilitates men's ...

3 Apr 201421min

Populært innen Fakta

fastlegen
dine-penger-pengeradet
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
mikkels-paskenotter
foreldreradet
treningspodden
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
jakt-og-fiskepodden
sinnsyn
rss-bisarr-historie
takk-og-lov-med-anine-kierulf
rss-kull
rss-sunn-okonomi
fryktlos
hverdagspsyken
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
level-up-med-anniken-binz
hagespiren-podcast
gravid-uke-for-uke
rss-kunsten-a-leve