1. Dan Turton Victoria University of Wellington dan.turton@vuw.ac.nz
Hedonism, False Pleasures and the Role of Intuitions in Assessing Theories of Well-Being
Dan Turton
Victoria University of Wellington

2. Plan Hand-waving & definitions My overall project
The problem: the objection from false pleasures
The solution: a better understanding of moral intuitions and what they are useful for
The result: hedonism about well-being is plausible

3. Scope (hand-waving) Hedonism, not: Well-being, not:
Psychological hedonism
Folk hedonism
Rather: pleasure (enjoyment) is the only thing of intrinsic value for an individual
Well-being, not:
The aesthetically, exemplary, or morally good life
Rather: the life that is good for the subject of that life
intrinsic value for an individual
Hedonism about well-being claims that the good life for the one living it contains lots of enjoyment and very little suffering

4. Reviving Hedonism History of unpopularity (philosophical death)
Profligate image, Moore, Nozick & Nagel/Kagan
Current teaching of moral philosophy
Aim is for plausibility (equal with p-s & list)
General strategy
Assume plausibility
Refute objections
(Re-) assume plausibility

5. False Pleasures
False pleasure = pleasure based on something that isn’t true
1) Hedonism states that pleasure is the only thing of intrinsic value
2) Pleasure based on truth is more valuable than pleasure based on falsity
3) Therefore, something other than pleasure is intrinsically valuable
4) Therefore, hedonism is false
Evidence for 2 comes via thought experiments

6. Deceived Businessman Nagel, Kagan, Rachels etc.
Fred and Ted experience their lives as equally full of enjoyment and free of suffering
But Fred is deceived!
Try to imagine that Fred never finds out about it
Who has the better life?
Even some hedonists give up the fight here
Why?
Truth must have value

7. Intuition vs Reason
Reason says that their lives are of equal value (if hedonism is believed apriori)
Intuition says Ted’s life is more valuable
And intuition challenges hedonistic reasoning:
‘If hedonism leads to that conclusion, then it’s a ridiculous theory of well-being!’
But reason also challenges intuition:
How can something that Fred never experiences affect his well-being?

8. Assessing Theories of Well-Being
The old way (Griffin, Kagan etc)
i) Produce intuitively pleasing results in most cases
ii) Have a compelling rationale
iii) Be meta-ethically and -physically consistent
iv) Be functional
Certainly most of discussion around i and ii
Because i trumps ii, hedonism is seen as implausible

9. Stalemate?
Some will say the intuition arises because truth is valuable
(since that’s the only difference)
And insist that truth is, therefore, valuable regardless of if we experience it
I think the intuition is probably about:
The risk of finding out,
An ingrained dislike of deception and
The worry that Fred will get less love
None of which should be relevant!
Can hedonists give good reason to believe that the intuition is not about the intrinsic value of truth? Yes, but…

10. Intuitions (W&A 2007)
But should intuitions be allowed to trump reason anyway?
An intuition is a valenced feeling about something
Formed by fast unconscious assimilation of large amounts of data
Similarities are processed and potential outcomes are simulated
Intuitions are not introspectible

11. Intuitions about Moral Theories
Woodward & Allman (2007) say they are often misused but can be useful
Don’t use intuitions
For unrealistic thought experiments
Do use intuitions
When you have a lot of relevant experience
In complex cases

12. A Limited Role for Intuitions in Moral Theory
Based on Woodward and Allman’s work:
The Adjusted old method for assessing theories of well-being:
i) Produce intuitively pleasing results in realistic cases
ii) Have a compelling rationale
iii) Be meta-ethically and -physically consistent
iv) Be functional

13. More Implications from W&A’s Work:
1) Intuitions do not always track features that are relevant to a situation
2) There is no way to be sure what specific features an intuition is tracking
No introspection
No reconstruction
3) Therefore, it is not possible to know if an intuition is tracking features that are relevant to the situation

14. Intuitions in Theories of Well-Being
Extra reasons that intuitions about well-being might not track relevant features:
Self-serving/endowment/familiarity bias (Bentham, Singer, Unger, Gilbert)
We perceive the world and our position in it with bias
Our perceptions shape our memories
Therefore, our memories and perceptions are biased
Our intuitions are based on our perceptions and memories
Therefore, our intuitions are biased towards more familiar types of well-being

15. A Very Limited Role for Intuitions in Theories of Well-Being
1) It’s not possible to know if intuitions about well-being are tracking relevant features
2) Our intuitions about well-being are likely to be biased
3) Therefore, if we have another (more trust-worthy) method of assessing theories of well-being, then we should use it
Especially in unrealistic thought experiments

16. A New Method for Assessing Theories of Well-Being
A good theory of well-being should:
i) Have a compelling rationale
Internal consistency
Rationally compelling
Intuitive*
ii) Be meta-ethically and -physically consistent
iii) Be functional
Be useful for policy-making
Agree with widespread intuition*

17. Applying the New Assessment Scheme
The deceived businessman asks us to imagine the impossible
So, we should be very skeptical about any intuitions it raises
It is impossible for anti-hedonists to introspect that their intuition is caused by the value of truth
Indeed, it is impossible to know whether the intuition in this case has anything to do with the value of truth
Furthermore, there is reason to believe that the intuition is not based on the intrinsic value of truth
There is also a compelling reason to believe that Ted and Fred have equally valuable lives

18. The Verdict on the Deceived Businessman
Hedonists can stand firm on their compelling reason (how can something that you don’t experience affect your life?) and…
The anti-hedonists’ reason (truth) is only supported by a flimsy intuition that cannot prove its relevance
Therefore, the deceived businessman objection fails to provide good evidence for thinking that something other than pleasure intrinsically increases well-being

19. Implications for Hedonism
If the current method of assessing theories of well-being is revised either moderately or radically, then:
The deceived businessman objection fails
The objection from false pleasures fails
Hedonism about well-being will be seen as plausible (revived!)
And, because hedonism may soon prove to have a sound scientific basis:
Hedonism might even be seen as more plausible than other theories about well-being (very revived!!)