Obsessed

DeletedUser8396

Guest
Quite recently, I was at a social gathering to celebrate a friend’s return from a lengthy trip. During which, a friend of mine was showing me pictures of someone else. After looking at a few of the pictures shown, two things became clear: she was incredibly beautiful, as well as seemingly obsessed with her appearance.

This obsession seemed rather apparent, and I used it as a negative effect toward the personality, as to detract from the beauty. The obsession was seen as a negative, not for its fruits, benefits, or disbenefits, but simply because of the name “obsession”. The word itself carried such an extreme derogatory weight that no matter what the obsession was or would ever be, it would be negative simply because it would be titled an obsession.

Since then, I’ve been passively thinking about obsessions. Whether they are good or whether they are bad, inherently. Below is my conclusion:

There are, at the core, three types of obsessions: obsessions over good things/acts, obsessions over neutral things/acts, and, consequently, obsessions over bad things/acts. For example, one can be obsessed with feeding the homeless (seems peculiarly rare, but even so). One can also be obsessed with appearance, much like the individual above, which is an obsession over neutrality. And then, finally, there could be one obsessed with murder. An example for each type, if you needed one.

The verdict:

If one is obsessed with a good thing/act, the obsession is morally good. Were the obsession to cause one to forsake other bad (or even other good things), the acts that would follow in their stead would be good. This would then cause a net increase in good.

If one is obsessed with an evil thing or act (and not obsessed with it in the interest to stop it, control it, or contain it for public safety), the obsession is morally bad.

The first two are not that complicated, and shouldn’t be. The interesting area, for me, comes into the obsession with neutral things or acts.

I believe the key to answering what determines an obsession’s status as good, bad, or neutral is boiled down into the defining aspects of two areas: what determines what is good/bad, how extensive is the obsession.

For the first issue, it depends highly on one’s worldview. Morality can range anywhere from God-given to Pleasure vs. Pain to no moral code whatsoever. The latter simply does not agree with the premise of this paper, and the result of a neutral obsession being good or bad would be irrelevant to individuals with such a world view. As for the first two, the moral is strikingly similar, so they will be treated similarly:

If the obsession with the neutral thing or act causes one to be able to function in life more abundantly, participate in activities to a greater extent, or cause personal satisfaction with practically no social downside, it is by necessity good in nature. Since it does not harm any particular person, yet grants the individual pleasure/happiness, the obsession is a moral benefactor.

If the obsession does harm society in a greater extent than it allows the individual to feel happiness, then the obsession is a moral antagonist.

If the obsession does not grant personal pleasure, but aids society more than it harms the individual, the obsession is a moral good, although an unnecessary one.

If the obsession does not grant personal pleasure and does not aid (or even hurts) society, it is a moral antagonist.

As for the individual I took to be obsessed with appearance, I believe she falls in line with a neutral obsession in appearances which grants her personal satisfaction and happiness with the impossibility to harm society in any great way and potentially warrant society a higher level of happiness. Therefore, the obsession seen here would be considered a net moral good.

P.S. – And yes, I’m extremely bored.
 

DeletedUser31385

Guest
One could still get pleasure while doing a morale good.
 

DeletedUser44426

Guest
......................*thinks about every simple aspect of life*.............*reads pebbles thread about obsession*...........*buys a ticket to a village in china, never interacts with the modern world again*....



I honestly dont understand why you would write this. I guess boredom is a strange.....motivator.
 
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