@philosophyminis: Do you ever not trust yourself? Are there certain situations, or apps, or even people that bring out the worst in you? They bring out an aspect you don’t want to see. Well, if that’s you, you might want to try what John Elster calls a ‘Ulysses Contract.’ In Greek mythology, Ulysses was the Latin name for Odysseus, who had his crew tie him to the mast of his ship so he could enjoy the sirens’ beautiful song without being lured to his death. This is what Elster called ‘binding yourself,’ and he thought we should do it more often. To bind yourself is to hold your future self to account, and to take necessary steps to help yourself right now. A simple example might be when somebody hands over their car keys to avoid the temptation of drink-driving later on in the night. For a Ulysses contract to work, it needs two things: First, a decision must be made when you are most rational and lucid. This is the best version of you, and it’s when you are doing your best thinking. And, second, you must organise the future in such a way that your lesser, irrational future self is bound by the better decisions of your better nature. It might be throwing out all of your sugary treats, or self-excluding yourself from a toxic environment. It might mean deleting an app, or asking your friends to keep you accountable. Elster’s lesson borrows something from Aristotle, which says that willpower is rarely enough alone, because willpower can wax and wane. It comes and goes. It depends on how powerful the sirens’ call can be. So, we should design our choices, and design our lives, so that our future self cannot betray the better and deeper self that we want to be.

Jonny Thomson

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Region: GB

Wednesday 29 July 2026 13:39:58 GMT