POLI 319 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Satisfaction Theory Of Atonement, Experience Machine, Welfarism
13 May 2018
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Lecture January 17th:
Welfarism and theories of Well-Being
Welfarism: The idea that morality is centrally concerned with the best interests. Based on
the total amount of utility distributed among people.
—Utilitarianism is the most well-known welfarist approach to morality, but not the
only one
—Connects to the idea that well-being is the currency of justice.
Different philosophical approaches to the understanding of the different views of
individual well-being:
1. Hedonist theories —> only good think is pleasure. Based on the acceptance of
experience. Can be quantitative or qualitative.
—Hedonists believe that the only thing that could make life worse is pain
—there is a net amount of pleasure and it doesn’t matter where it comes from (the
quantitative aspect)
—Mill says that there are certain sorts of pleasure that are more valuable than
others- this ultimately plays into the objective-list theory.
OBJECTIONS:
—Philosophy of swine
—Experience machine: Nozick- what things will add value to our lives we plug into
the machine. We value more than experiences and a healthy mental state.
Important to engage with different kinds of people.
—What about sensory vs. attitudinal pleasures? Like feeling good and achievement
2. Desire- Satisfaction theory—>
—Idea that what is good for a person is getting what they want or desire.
—Denies experience requirement
—Can be restricted (there are certain things that a person wants but it does not add
to their well-being aka drugs, porn etc. ) or unrestricted (all things that one wants,
even things that could be bad for them, as long as it adds to their well-being.)
Document Summary
Welfarism: the idea that morality is centrally concerned with the best interests. Based on the total amount of utility distributed among people. Utilitarianism is the most well-known welfarist approach to morality, but not the only one. Connects to the idea that well-being is the currency of justice. Different philosophical approaches to the understanding of the different views of individual well-being: hedonist theories > only good think is pleasure. Hedonists believe that the only thing that could make life worse is pain. There is a net amount of pleasure and it doesn"t matter where it comes from (the quantitative aspect) Mill says that there are certain sorts of pleasure that are more valuable than others- this ultimately plays into the objective-list theory. Experience machine: nozick- what things will add value to our lives we plug into the machine. We value more than experiences and a healthy mental state. Important to engage with different kinds of people.
