The appetites are not to be eradicated but to be restrained and kept in
subjection to their proper ends. The desires are in many ways analogous
to the appetites, hence the common expression we “hunger” and “thirst”
for knowledge, or power, or any of the so-called six original
desires—knowledge, society, love, power, superiority and possession. All
proper desires end in their proper objects and seek nothing more. We may
seek knowledge whereby we may control and elevate the natural qualities
we possess and make safe our influence upon others: or again we may seek
knowledge out of vanity for the means of display.
Social life is the chief sphere of our activities and improvements,
without which the moral nature could not be developed. But then we may
desire society for purely selfish motives, as the child may seek a
playmate merely that he may himself be amused, not that he may give
pleasure to the other child. The disposition to be loved and esteemed
appears very early in childhood. It is considered a mark of bad
character to be careless of the regard of others. A moralist once said:
“A young man is not far from ruin when he can say without blushing, ‘I
don’t care what others think of me’,” and on the other extreme esteem
may be craved to such an extent that it may lead to hypocrisy and
deceit.