I am going to present what I think is an interesting paradox. I will first give an exposition of the paradox (which could be called a “preface paradox for goals” – for reasons that will become obvious soon). I will then deal with some objections and finally discuss a proposed solution to the paradox.

THE PARADOX

A good starting point is, as always, a triviality: Agents want their goals to be realized. More precisely:

1. (1) If an agent A has a goal G, then A wants that G will be realized (by A or somebody or something else).

This has to be taken in the de dicto-sense – hence not in the de re-sense of “something would constitute the goal's realization, and A wants it.” I use “A wants that p” in the strong sense of “All things considered, A prefers the truth of ‘p’ to the truth of ‘not-p.’”

Having a particular desire is, of course, compatible with not wanting its realization. Goals, however, are different: They imply the desiredness of their realization. It is simply incoherent to say something like, “I have this goal but I do not want to realize it.”

The following thing seems trivial also:

1. (2) Agents have many goals (at any particular time as well as throughout their lives).

As does this:

1. (3) If an agent A has a finite number of goals G1, G2, …, Gn, then A wants that G1 will be realized, A wants that G2 will be realized, …, A wants that Gn will be realized.

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