Or maybe I decide that X1 doesn’t include other humans getting what they value, and I’m only under the impression that it does because there are some things that other humans happen to value that X1 does include, or because X1 includes something that is similar but not quite identical to other humans getting what they value, or for some other reason.
Either way, whichever of those things turns out to be the case, that’s what I should do… agreed (1).
Of course, in some of those cases (though not others), in order to work out what that is in practice, I also need to know what other humans’ equivalents of X1 are. That is, if it turns out X1 includes you getting what you value as long as you’re alive, and what you value is given by X2, then as long as you’re alive I should bring about X2 as well as X1. And in this scenario, when you are no longer alive, I no longer should bring about X2.
==== (1) Or, well, colloquially true, anyway. I should certainly prefer those things occurring, but whether I should do anything in particular, let alone try to do anything in particular, is less clear. For example, if there exists a particularly perverse agent A who is much more powerful than I, and if A is such that A will bring about what I value IFF I make no efforts whatsoever towards bringing them about myself, then it follows that what I ought to do is make no efforts whatsoever towards bringing them about. It’s not clear that I’m capable of that, but whether I’m capable of it or not it seems clear that it’s what I ought to do. Put a different way, in that situation I should prefer to be capable of doing so, if it turns out that I’m not.
Yes, that’s true.
Or maybe I decide that X1 doesn’t include other humans getting what they value, and I’m only under the impression that it does because there are some things that other humans happen to value that X1 does include, or because X1 includes something that is similar but not quite identical to other humans getting what they value, or for some other reason.
Either way, whichever of those things turns out to be the case, that’s what I should do… agreed (1).
Of course, in some of those cases (though not others), in order to work out what that is in practice, I also need to know what other humans’ equivalents of X1 are. That is, if it turns out X1 includes you getting what you value as long as you’re alive, and what you value is given by X2, then as long as you’re alive I should bring about X2 as well as X1. And in this scenario, when you are no longer alive, I no longer should bring about X2.
====
(1) Or, well, colloquially true, anyway. I should certainly prefer those things occurring, but whether I should do anything in particular, let alone try to do anything in particular, is less clear. For example, if there exists a particularly perverse agent A who is much more powerful than I, and if A is such that A will bring about what I value IFF I make no efforts whatsoever towards bringing them about myself, then it follows that what I ought to do is make no efforts whatsoever towards bringing them about. It’s not clear that I’m capable of that, but whether I’m capable of it or not it seems clear that it’s what I ought to do. Put a different way, in that situation I should prefer to be capable of doing so, if it turns out that I’m not.