Stoic Conversations 20

"If someone feels something, if it's what his desires tell him he should do, then that's what he should do. It would be wrong to keep anyone from getting what he wants."

"What if I want to rob you? What if I want to expose myself in public parks? What if I want to become an addict? What if I want to throw myself off a building?"

"Don't be silly, those are completely different cases!"

"Why? I may feel like I want to do them. My passions are speaking to me."

"But you may be harming other people, or harming yourself."

"So there is another condition I need to apply? Not just that I want something, but that I should want something that is good for others and for me?"

"Well, yes."

"Then things don't become good just because you desire them, but you should desire then because they are good?"

"Hold on now, who's to say what's good or bad?"

"Quite right, that's a further question, but it is one that requires reason, not just passion."

"I guess I've never thought of it that way, though I feel like I've heard that argument somewhere before."

"Do you know a fellow named Socrates?"

"No, what department is he in?"