It can be if the basic structure is “I need to get my basic needs taken care of so that I can work on my ultimate goal”.
That’s a fully generic response though. Any combination of goals/drives could have a (possibly non-linear) mapping which turns them into a single unified goal in that sense, or vice versa.
Let me put it more simply: can achieving “self-determination” alleviate your need to eat, sleep, and relieve yourself? If not, then there are some basic biological needs (maintenance of which is a goal) that have to be met separately from any “ultimate” goal of self-determination. That’s the sense in which I considered it obvious we don’t have singular goal systems.
Any combination of goals/drives could have a (possibly non-linear) mapping which turns them into a single unified goal in that sense, or vice versa. .
Yeah, I think that if the brain in fact is mapped that way it would be meaningful to say you have a single goal.
Let me put it more simply: can achieving “self-determination” alleviate your need to eat, sleep, and relieve yourself? If not, then there are some basic biological needs (maintenance of which is a goal) that have to be met separately
Maybe, it depends on how the brain is mapped. I know of at least a few psychology theories which would say things like avoiding pain and getting food are in the service of higher psychological needs. If you came to believe for instance that eating wouldn’t actually lead to those higher goals, you would stop.
I think this is pretty unlikely. But again, I’m not sure.
That’s a fully generic response though. Any combination of goals/drives could have a (possibly non-linear) mapping which turns them into a single unified goal in that sense, or vice versa.
Let me put it more simply: can achieving “self-determination” alleviate your need to eat, sleep, and relieve yourself? If not, then there are some basic biological needs (maintenance of which is a goal) that have to be met separately from any “ultimate” goal of self-determination. That’s the sense in which I considered it obvious we don’t have singular goal systems.
Yeah, I think that if the brain in fact is mapped that way it would be meaningful to say you have a single goal.
Maybe, it depends on how the brain is mapped. I know of at least a few psychology theories which would say things like avoiding pain and getting food are in the service of higher psychological needs. If you came to believe for instance that eating wouldn’t actually lead to those higher goals, you would stop.
I think this is pretty unlikely. But again, I’m not sure.