It is a common human predicament that we often choose an action other than the one we perceive to be best. Philosophers know this problem as akrasia. When we are able to choose what is good for us, when we know, and act upon, our own best interest, we have moral health. (1)
Let us here differentiate the concepts “desire” and “impulse.” Let’s explore what they have in common as well as the difference between them.
Desire may be defined as “a longing, an urge, or a craving, as for something that brings satisfaction or enjoyment”
For example, a desire for fame. Or, a sexual appetite.
An Impulse may be understood as: A sudden, involuntary inclination prompting to action: This inclination is often due to the influence of a particular mental state. [One may, for example, act from a generous impulse, or strike out at someone from an angry impulses] …with thanks to dictionary.com.
The two concepts may be related to one another; one may be swayed by an impulse to feed one’s appetites due to harboring a desire.
Moral health is enhanced by impulse-control, that is, by considering long-term as well as short-term effects. To live an ethical life is to enjoy a high degree of moral health. What is a mark of low moral health?
To find fault with others is not the ethical way to live. Neither is it ethical to blame, to name-call, to play the victim, to deride, to defraud. To overgeneralize is another cognitive error that reduces one’s moral health. To believe oneself superior to another human being is an ethical fallacy: a cognition such as, “I’m a somebody, and you are a nobody” would be a cognitive liability, an ethical mistake.
To violate Ethics is to lack moral health, or have it but to a low degree. To rate “Excellent” on the H.V. P. (the Hartman Value Profile); or [the way Axiogenics consultants score it] to have it reveal that you neither over-value yourself and the world, nor do you under-value them, is to display (at that moment in time) a high degree of Moral Health.
I have here introduced an original concept;which may serve to upgrade existing Ethical Theories.
Let’s discuss it. I’d love to hear your views on these matters.
- See also, Daniel P. Thero - Understanding Moral Weakness.