Moreover, we humans can make decisions only because certain options attract us and certain other options repel us. If it were not true that we have specific anxieties, proclivities, hopes, and aspirations, there would be no way to evaluate the merits and demerits of different courses of action. Consequently, the sets of attractions and revulsions that motivate us — our “passions,” in other words — are critical for the purpose of giving direction to human lives.
