system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Having ulterior motives isn't a bad thing

Ulterior motives should not automatically be a bad thing. They should only be a bad thing when used for bad/evil/harmful/etc reasons. I think we should demonize the harmful/selfish behavior, but not be offended by ulterior motives themselves.

The association of ulterior motives with evil intentions, harmful manipulations, etc has sort of poisoned the concept. I see this as different than "if you cheat on your wife and she never finds out then nobody gets hurt" because you are hiding far more than your intentions, you are actually hiding a potentially harmful act that you committed. Someone might argue "if you keep your motives secret than how can I trust...?" But trust is built on deeds, not on internal desires. If a saint secretly wanted the world to burn, but their entire life behaved as a saint should - then they warrant trust. If a person secretly wants the world to be a good place, but they burn shit down all the time - they do not warrant trust.

**A contrived example invented to illustrate my specific point**: Person X has a car that still works, and wants to get a truck some day. Person X's spouse, person Y, would veto the purchase because they think X's desire is silly. A year later (the discussion of trucks long forgotten) person Y needs to buy a vehicle for regular life. X & Y go car shopping, and person Y likes 5 vehicles, one of which is a truck. Person X has no real preference, but when Y says "how about the truck?" person X says "yeah let's get it". (*Here is where the calculating part happens*) Person X encouraged Y to get a truck predicting that in a few years, Y will want another vehicle and X can have the truck. The entire time, Y is happy with the process, is happy with the purchase, and in a few years the truck goes to person X. Two years after that, X tells Y the reason the truck was encouraged - Y gets angry.

In the above example, person Y is probably upset because they perceive ulterior motives. But X if the motives were overt, person Y would've rejected the truck. Having kept the motives quiet, everyone was happy and had what they wanted, without having to manipulate/deceive/harm anyone. So the only way to get this (good) outcome is through ulterior motives.
gpt
The definition of ulterior has negative connotations. "going beyond what is openly said or shown and especially what is proper". Having a motive you don't voice, and having an ulterior motive, aren't necessarily the same thing.