Abstract

This chapter tries to resolve the lingering questions about the divide between theoretical reduction and elimination, and about the justifications for insisting on placing a single face of desire at the center of a theory of desire. It is shown that by reviewing the points of agreement and disagreement between the reward theory and common sense, the reward theory passes the test. Research on desire has suffered from the incompleteness of the knowledge applied. By putting together all the evidence available and all the theoretical resources available, a theory of desire that is neither particularly scientific nor particularly philosophical have been built.