Forgetting

Modal Confusion is when you confuse having something for becoming something.

You may confuse having lots of money with being a valuable person, or having lots of sex for being a desirable person

It can even emerge in philosophy, where people become fixated on having the right propositions instead of on knowledge. Philonikia or love of victory according to Plato instead of Philosophy or love of knowledge.

The solution to modal confusion is to remember that you can be or become rather than merely have. This means breaking free of what advertisers may be trying to tell you to think of yourself and understanding yourself as a being of intrinsic value.

On the philosophical side this manifests in Erosophy

Heidegger is a good philosopher to read to counter Modal Confusion

First brought up here

Being mode is developmental needs rather than physical needs

Master slave dialectic and incels are subject to modal confusion

Fromm was the person who first mentioned the having vs being mode