you went to a bookstore and did not find it. Would you say to yourself
something like, “Well, they don’t have The Lord of the Rings, so I will buy something else”?
Although the above attitude is possible, this would not be
normal here. If you want The Lord of the Rings, then you want The
Lord of the Rings. It is personal by nature! It is not the same when
you are going to buy a car. In the latter case, you need something to
drive. Even if you want a very certain car, it can be substituted. The
Lord of the Rings cannot be substituted. Another book will never be
the same to you, in the exact way that a loved one cannot be
substituted by just any person.
This last point is extremely important. Let us deliberate on a few more examples. One can say something like:
- I need something to eat.
- I need something to drive.
- I’d like something to read.
- I want to marry.
- I need to talk to somebody.
Or one can say something like:
- I want rack of lamb, Irish style.
- I want a blue Cadillac.
- I need to read The Lord of the Rings.
- I love Miriam and want to marry her.
- I miss Tom and want to talk to him.
What is the difference between the two groups? The first one
contains indifferent, impersonal statements, which represent,
generally speaking, a “consumer” attitude. The second one consists of
personal statements which represent a passionate “humane” attitude.
But this is not all.
The “consumer” attitude in some of these statements should be taken with a grain of salt. Even when you just want to marry, you normally foresee individual human-to-human relations; so even though this wish is expressed in general terms, it is not necessarily a consumer one. The same story happens with the wish to talk to
