What is valuable is what we value, because if we didn’t value it, we wouldn’t have invented the word “valuable” to describe it.
By analogy, suppose my favourite colour is red, but I speak a language with no term for “red”. So I invent “xylbiz” to refer to red things; in our language, it is pretty much a synonym for “red”. All objects that are xylbiz are my favourite colour. “By definition” to some degree, since my liking red is the origin of the definition “xylbiz = red”. But note that: things are not xylbiz because xylbiz is my favourite colour; they are xylbiz because of their physical characteristics. Nor is xylbiz my favourite colour because things are xylbiz; rather xylbiz is my favourite colour because that’s how my mind is built.
It would, however, be fairly accurate to say that if an object is xylbiz, it is my favourite colour, and it is my favourite colour because it is xylbiz (and because of how my mind is built). It would also be accurate to say that “xylbiz” refers to red things because red is my favourite colour, but this is a statement about words, not about redness or xylbizness.
Note that if my favourite colour changed somehow, so now I like purple and invent the word “blagg” for it, things that were previously xylbiz would not become blagg, however you would notice I stop talking about “xylbiz” (actually, being human, would probably just redefine “xylbiz” to mean purple rather than define a new word).
By the way, the philosopher would probably ask “what evidence is there that we should value what mental states feel like from the inside?”
What is valuable is what we value, because if we didn’t value it, we wouldn’t have invented the word “valuable” to describe it.
By analogy, suppose my favourite colour is red, but I speak a language with no term for “red”. So I invent “xylbiz” to refer to red things; in our language, it is pretty much a synonym for “red”. All objects that are xylbiz are my favourite colour. “By definition” to some degree, since my liking red is the origin of the definition “xylbiz = red”. But note that: things are not xylbiz because xylbiz is my favourite colour; they are xylbiz because of their physical characteristics. Nor is xylbiz my favourite colour because things are xylbiz; rather xylbiz is my favourite colour because that’s how my mind is built.
It would, however, be fairly accurate to say that if an object is xylbiz, it is my favourite colour, and it is my favourite colour because it is xylbiz (and because of how my mind is built). It would also be accurate to say that “xylbiz” refers to red things because red is my favourite colour, but this is a statement about words, not about redness or xylbizness.
Note that if my favourite colour changed somehow, so now I like purple and invent the word “blagg” for it, things that were previously xylbiz would not become blagg, however you would notice I stop talking about “xylbiz” (actually, being human, would probably just redefine “xylbiz” to mean purple rather than define a new word).
By the way, the philosopher would probably ask “what evidence is there that we should value what mental states feel like from the inside?”