lust
Enable an agent to recognise and describe lust as an attributed or experienced form of sexual desire, assess its context and uncertainty, and identify appropriate responses without treating desire as consent or conduct.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an agent to recognise and describe lust as an attributed or experienced form of sexual desire, assess its context and uncertainty, and identify appropriate responses without treating desire as consent or conduct.
Lust is intense desire, usually sexual, understood in ordinary and psychological usage as an experience of wanting and in some moral or religious traditions as desire judged excessive, improperly directed, or objectifying.
It can be Clarify which meaning of lust a speaker intends and preserve alternative interpretations.; Describe voluntarily reported desire while marking uncertainty and attribution.; Compare episodes using explicitly defined time windows and self-rating scales.; Distinguish sexual wanting from arousal, attachment, consent and intended conduct.; Help a person identify responses consistent with their preferences and others' boundaries.; Identify unresolved distress or disruption that warrants further assessment without assigning a diagnosis..
Distinguishing features
Establish whether the description concerns sexual wanting; intensity of a nonsexual appetite alone does not place it in this model.
Record bodily arousal separately: a physiological response alone does not establish experienced lust.
Identify wanting separately from judging someone attractive; an attractiveness assessment alone does not establish desire.
Test whether affection, attachment or commitment is also present rather than defining lust by their absence.
Separate experiencing desire from intending, consenting to or performing an act; none can be inferred solely from the others.
Scope
+ Episodes and recurring patterns described as intense sexual wanting
+ The subject, object and specificity of desire, where voluntarily disclosed
+ Distinctions between desire, bodily arousal, attraction, attachment and intended action
+ Psychological, everyday, ethical and religious interpretations of lust
+ The relationship between experienced desire, personal boundaries and chosen responses
- Sexual acts and their physical mechanics
- Consent as an independently established interpersonal agreement
- Sexual orientation and gender identity as enduring identity constructs
- Romantic relationships and attachment as complete relational systems
- Clinical diagnoses and treatment protocols
- Metaphorical appetites such as lust for power or wealth
Characteristics
- Applied meaning
- Everyday sexual wanting | psychological construct | ethical or religious category | disputed | unspecified The same label can describe an experience or express a judgement about it.
- Attribution basis
- Voluntary self-report | quoted account | third-party interpretation | unknown Prevents another person's interpretation from becoming an asserted private mental state.
- Experienced intensity
- Optional self-rating with the scale, anchors and time window recorded; otherwise unknown Supports comparison within an account without inventing a universal threshold for lust.
- Temporal pattern
- Momentary | sustained | recurrent | variable | unknown, with reported duration Distinguishes an episode from a claimed recurring disposition.
- Desire directedness
- Toward a reported person, imagined scenario or sexual experience | diffuse | undisclosed | unknown Clarifies what is wanted without requiring identifying details about another person.
- Relationship to arousal and attachment
- Each separately reported as present | absent | uncertain | undisclosed Preserves distinctions between sexual wanting, bodily response and relational feelings.
- Experienced fit with preferences and values
- Welcome | unwanted | mixed | uncertain | undisclosed Guides whether reflection, accommodation or help managing the experience is wanted.
- Reported impact
- No reported disruption | attention disruption | relationship tension | distress | other specified impact | unknown Separates intensity from consequences and avoids diagnosing from the label alone.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 17 findings · 27 questions.
Meanings of lust The sexual-desire sense and the interpretive frameworks that give the label different implications.
An agent must know whether lust names an experience, an evaluative category or both.
Sexual sense
Establishes the intended referent and the proposed boundary with ordinary sexual desire.
Working definition
Record the speaker's meaning and any proposed intensity or object-focus criterion without presenting that criterion as universal.
- What does the speaker mean by lust in this account? definition
- What, if anything, distinguishes it here from sexual desire generally? boundary
Evaluative frameworks
Locates moral, religious and psychological interpretations in their stated sources.
Framework and disagreement
Attribute judgements about lust to the person, tradition or account making them, and retain disagreements.
- Whose framework supplies this definition or judgement of lust? provenance
- Does that framework locate the concern in desire itself, cultivated attention, objectification or conduct? definition
Experienced sexual wanting The reported content, intensity and temporal shape of desire.
Recognition requires a description of the experience rather than reliance on the label alone.
Content and directedness
Describes what is wanted at the least intrusive level necessary.
Object of wanting
Distinguish person-directed desire, imagined sexual situations and diffuse wanting without assuming an intended encounter.
- Is the reported wanting directed toward a person, a scenario, an experience or no specific object? definition
- Which details are necessary to understand the desire, and which can remain undisclosed? action
Intensity and course
Tracks the strength and recurrence of the experience within a defined period.
Episode profile
Use the person's account and any explicitly defined measure to distinguish a brief episode from sustained or recurrent wanting.
- How strong is the desire according to the person, using what scale and time window? measurement
- How long does it last, how often does it recur, and what changes accompany its rise or decline? measurement
Evidence and neighbouring states The basis for attributing lust and its relationship to other experiences.
An agent must avoid reading private desire directly from appearance, bodily response or relational status.
Attribution quality
Separates first-person descriptions from interpretations made by observers.
Claim basis
Record who attributes lust, what they rely on and whether the person concerned accepts the description.
- Is lust self-reported, described in a source account or inferred by someone else? provenance
- What uncertainty remains if the attribution relies on behaviour, appearance or physiological response? boundary
Desire, arousal and love
Keeps related experiences independently describable.
Co-occurring experiences
Record sexual wanting, bodily arousal, attraction and attachment separately, allowing overlap and uncertainty.
- Which of sexual wanting, bodily arousal, attraction and attachment does the person actually report? measurement
- Would the account still support lust if bodily arousal or romantic attachment were absent? boundary
Desire and interpersonal boundaries How sexual wanting relates to intentions, reciprocity and permissible interaction.
Experiencing lust does not establish another person's wishes or authorise an action toward them.
Wanting and intending
Separates an internal experience from a chosen course of action.
Intention status
Distinguish fantasy, desire, intention and conduct without assuming progression between them.
- Does this account describe wanting, fantasy, an intention or an action already taken? boundary
- What response, if any, does the person actually want to choose? action
Reciprocity and consent
Connects proposed interpersonal actions to independently established boundaries.
No permission from desire
Keep attributed attraction and reciprocal desire distinct from consent to a specific interaction.
- What is known about the other person's wishes through their communication rather than inferred attraction? provenance
- What boundaries and consent requirements must be established independently before the proposed interaction? action
Personal fit and response Whether the experience is welcome, disruptive or in tension with the person's commitments, and what support they want.
Useful responses depend on reported impact and preferences, not on intensity or moral labelling alone.
Welcome and conflict
Describes the person's relationship to the desire and to judgements about it.
Source of discomfort
Distinguish discomfort with the experience, conflict with commitments, consequences of conduct and distress about its interpretation.
- Is the desire welcome, unwanted or mixed from the person's perspective? measurement
- If there is discomfort, does the person connect it to the desire, its meaning, a commitment or something they have done? definition
Impact and chosen support
Relates reported disruption to the person's preferred next step.
Proportionate response
Record effects on attention, relationships and daily activities, and identify requested support without treating lust itself as a diagnosis.
- What concrete disruption or distress is reported, over what period, and with what uncertainty about its cause? measurement
- Does the person want reflection, help managing attention, boundary planning or professional assessment of persistent difficulties? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- No sense is recorded: this account prioritizes sexual desire while acknowledging figurative and morally evaluative uses.
- The listed kinds are ordinary distinctions, not a standardized taxonomy; research often operationalizes sexual desire rather than lust itself.
- This is recall-based; tradition-specific definitions and measurement instruments require verification before publication.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of lust this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Sexual lust
- Figurative lust for power, wealth, or other desired objects
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of lust this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Ordinary language for intense sexual wanting, often distinguished from affection or commitment.
- Religious and ethical discussions about the objects, limits, and expression of desire.
- Psychological research on sexual desire, attraction, and their relationships to attachment.
- Literary and artistic representations of temptation, motivation, and conflict.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of lust this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Self-reported intensity or frequency of sexual desire - Instrument-dependent; no universal range or threshold defines lust - Questionnaire or rating-scale score
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of lust this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Treating a morally evaluative definition as a universally accepted psychological definition.
- Conflating desire with physiological arousal, intention, or action.
- Inferring consent from another person's apparent desire or arousal.
- Treating intense desire alone as evidence of a disorder.
- Using the term to shame people or reinforce gender stereotypes.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of lust this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Many Christian traditions classify lust among the seven deadly sins, while ordinary secular usage can be descriptive rather than condemnatory.
- Terms translated as lust across languages and religious traditions do not necessarily share the same scope or moral meaning.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of lust this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Sexual desire - Sexual desire is the broader, usually more neutral category; lust commonly adds intensity or moral evaluation.
- Libido - Libido generally denotes sexual drive or propensity, whereas lust can denote a particular episode of wanting.
- Sexual arousal - Arousal concerns subjective excitement and physiological activation; it can occur without desire, and desire can occur without corresponding physiological arousal.
- Sexual attraction - Attraction concerns finding someone sexually appealing; lust emphasizes wanting, and need not have a specific interpersonal target.
- Love - Love can involve care, attachment, or commitment without sexual wanting; lust does not require those relationships.
- Consent - Consent concerns voluntary agreement to a particular activity; experiencing or displaying desire does not establish that agreement.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of lust this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Which reference accounts distinguish lust from sexual desire, and do they use intensity, objectification, moral evaluation or another criterion?
- Which research measures explicitly operationalise lust, and how well do they separate it from arousal, attraction and general sexual desire?
- How do particular cultural and religious traditions distinguish involuntary desire from deliberately cultivated desire and conduct?
- When people describe lust as unwanted, what evidence distinguishes discomfort about desire from disruption associated with its persistence or their actions?
- Does an existing Vercy world model already own this sexual-desire concept, requiring this registry entry to link to it rather than receive a separate publication?