We can t explain or reduce desire because desire is fundamental to all explanation about desire , hence the circularity. This displays a certain cognitive fundamentality, but only so long as we are cognizing about desire. The cognitive fundamentality is not universal enough to actually be fundamental to cognition itself. Desire is therefore not fundamental to cognition itself or explanation per se . The fundamentality afoot here is phenomenological .
Desire is fundamental in a mental domain other than cognition.
In fact, desire marks off the domain in which it is fundamental. Let s explore desire s fundamentality on its own terms , as a non-cognitive phenomenon experienced by conscious subjects. Here too we find fundamentality paralleling the other axioms. Although typically caused by a frustrated instance of desire, anger is just anger. Of all the non-cognitive, phenomenological existents, such as emotions, only desire can have a negating intention anything like disbelief has in the cognitive realm.