2019.11.02. Reading: Lorenz, Hendrik. “Natural Goals of Actions”

Several weeks ago I read the paper “Natural Goals of Actions in Aristotle” by my undergraduate thesis advisor, Professor Hendrik Lorenz (Princeton University). In it, Hendrik argues that Aristotle believes there to be two different kinds of goals in action (the first is extensively discussed in the literature; the second has been, according to Hendrik, widely overlooked):

1. the psychological goal(s) (the goal for the sake of which you or I take an action), and
2. the natural goal(s) (“goals that actions have by being the kinds of actions they are and by occurring in the circumstances in which they do”).

Natural goals are goals (telos) of actions that belong to their corresponding actions regardless of their adoption by agents and regardless of agents being aware of them.

Hendrik supports his claim by appealing to, naturally, Aristotle’s ethical writings wherein Aristotle discusses agents who are ignorant of the goals of their actions. More intriguingly, Hendrik appeals to Aristotle’s conception of chance, luck, and doing things ‘in vain‘ in Physics II.4-6. Essentially, Aristotle cannot properly explicate any of these concepts without his positing natural goals to actions. The paper is (appealing to those who would like to interpret unity in Aristotle’s final cause), extremely interesting, clear and easy to read so I highly recommend it, for your leisure, but importantly for me, reading it sparked some thoughts.

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Not only do I think it plausible that Aristotle believed there to be natural goals of actions (goals that actions have by being the kinds of actions they are and by occurring in the circumstances in which they do, regardless of the agent being aware of or adopting them), I also think it is true to my human experience to posit such goals.

Many of the things that I have done in my life I have done without knowing for the sake of what I did them. The past year I engaged in many actions and experiences for which I had no explicit or conscious objective (telos) to achieve in doing or taking part in them. Neither did I have any particular hopes in doing most of them. I’m not sure if I have achieved much of what I set out to achieve or even wanted to achieve throughout my life, but I think that it is true that I have unintentionally achieved quite a bit and acquired many, many skills in the process. (e.g. [chosen mostly for Shakthi] psychological goal: learn from Ben; acquired skills: Socratic questioning skills; natural goal [of taking classes with Ben]: become a philosophy major [also, check.]) This holds true of me this past year, too.

The concept of natural goals began to make me think a few weeks ago that perhaps I ought better to appreciate this part of my character: being very earnest. Despite not having any particular hopes in doing much of what I did, I did it all very earnestly anyway, because that’s just the sort of person that I am and have always been. My doing each and every one of my actions in this earnest way is perhaps exactly that which has allowed me to gain so much from my many experiences.

Thinking more about this topic a few weeks ago also made me think of Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement address which my father has loved to share with me the past many years. In it, Jobs discusses how many of (what looked like) random experiences and skills he acquired throughout his life all contributed to the success of Apple (e.g. his calligraphy class at Reed College from where he dropped out contributed to Apple’s ‘beautiful’ typography). He urges the students to pursue everything that comes their way earnestly, because doing so will inevitably connect to the future. This will only become apparent in hindsight.

For the sake of what natural goals were my actions done? I can’t be sure, but they have certainly cultivated me to feel a renewed sense of purpose to understanding more of the world, of others and of myself and to keep striving to evolve into a better, more thoughtful person. For these ends, I am very grateful.