I want a glass of water/I want to write this comment/I want to listen to a song/I don’t want to solve global peace, but I want global peace to be solved.
I’m not addicted to heroin, but I am addicted to other stuff, and I often wouldn’t call it “wanting” the stuff, but “having an urge”. Like doomscrolling. It would be a stretch to say (in ordinary language) I want to doomscroll. I don’t want to doomscroll but I have an urge to doomscroll.
Maybe the want comes from the cortex, while the urge comes from the cerebellum. Or the want comes from the superego, while the urge comes from the id. Though I agree that at other times it doesn’t feel necessary to talk of urges. I distinguished two different explanations here. One with urges vs wants, one with “want” vs “want to want”. Though you already touched on the latter.
“A heroin addict wants heroin” is the most straightforward way I can define want.
Yes, but if you narrow “want” to this level, then almost no one other than heroin addicts actually wants anything.
I want a glass of water/I want to write this comment/I want to listen to a song/I don’t want to solve global peace, but I want global peace to be solved.
I’m not addicted to heroin, but I am addicted to other stuff, and I often wouldn’t call it “wanting” the stuff, but “having an urge”. Like doomscrolling. It would be a stretch to say (in ordinary language) I want to doomscroll. I don’t want to doomscroll but I have an urge to doomscroll.
What’s the difference between an urge and a want?
Maybe the want comes from the cortex, while the urge comes from the cerebellum. Or the want comes from the superego, while the urge comes from the id. Though I agree that at other times it doesn’t feel necessary to talk of urges. I distinguished two different explanations here. One with urges vs wants, one with “want” vs “want to want”. Though you already touched on the latter.