Yes, that was a bit of loose language. I agree with you that self-reports are reasonable measures of mood—and that mood is entitled to some moral weight.
But Multi discussed some reasons to believe that reports of mood are pliable and unrepresentative.
My point was broader: There’s no particular reason to believe that positive mood is the same thing as, or even correlated with, utility. Utilitarians seek to maximize utility, not positive mood (infinite orgasms is not generally accepted as the utilitarian utopia).
Yes, that was a bit of loose language. I agree with you that self-reports are reasonable measures of mood—and that mood is entitled to some moral weight.
But Multi discussed some reasons to believe that reports of mood are pliable and unrepresentative.
My point was broader: There’s no particular reason to believe that positive mood is the same thing as, or even correlated with, utility. Utilitarians seek to maximize utility, not positive mood (infinite orgasms is not generally accepted as the utilitarian utopia).