Here’s an intuition pump: Is there any number of elegant scientific discoveries made in a Matrix, where no sentient beings at all would benefit from technologies derived from those discoveries, that would justify murdering someone? Scientific discoveries do seem valuable, and many people have the intuition that they’re valuable independent of their applications. But is it scope neglect to say that whatever their value, that value just couldn’t be commensurable with hedonic wellbeing? If not, what is the problem in principle with saying the same for happiness and suffering?
Fair enough, I don’t either. But there are some non-hedonic things that I have some intuition are valuable independent of hedonics—it’s just that I reject this intuition upon reflection (just as I reject the intuition that happiness is valuable independent of relief of suffering upon reflection). Is there anything other than hedonic well-being that you have an intuition is independently good or bad, even if you don’t endorse that intuition?
Here’s an intuition pump: Is there any number of elegant scientific discoveries made in a Matrix, where no sentient beings at all would benefit from technologies derived from those discoveries, that would justify murdering someone? Scientific discoveries do seem valuable, and many people have the intuition that they’re valuable independent of their applications. But is it scope neglect to say that whatever their value, that value just couldn’t be commensurable with hedonic wellbeing? If not, what is the problem in principle with saying the same for happiness and suffering?
I don’t have the intuition that scientific discoveries are valuable independent of their use for sentient beings.
Fair enough, I don’t either. But there are some non-hedonic things that I have some intuition are valuable independent of hedonics—it’s just that I reject this intuition upon reflection (just as I reject the intuition that happiness is valuable independent of relief of suffering upon reflection). Is there anything other than hedonic well-being that you have an intuition is independently good or bad, even if you don’t endorse that intuition?
Yeah, to some degree I have egalitarian intuitions pre reflection and some other small non utilitarian intuitions.