I think there are people who feel a strong impulse to cause pain. Subjectively, it may seem to them that they simply didn’t think of a non-pain-causing method of achieving their other ends. For all I know, at least some of them feel causing pain as a relief of anxiety rather than pleasure.
Also, it’s possible to frame just about anything as punishing defection. I’ve been seeing some indications that a lot of bad behavior is punishing people for claiming more status than they are felt to deserve.
Or, for something milder but closer to showing a terminal value, try this.
I’m not sure about this terminal value thing—if someone is causing pain because they feel pleasure from it, isn’t pleasure the terminal value?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katja-rowell-md/when-feeding-therapy-becomes-aversion-therapy_b_2951294.html
I think there are people who feel a strong impulse to cause pain. Subjectively, it may seem to them that they simply didn’t think of a non-pain-causing method of achieving their other ends. For all I know, at least some of them feel causing pain as a relief of anxiety rather than pleasure.
Also, it’s possible to frame just about anything as punishing defection. I’ve been seeing some indications that a lot of bad behavior is punishing people for claiming more status than they are felt to deserve.
Or, for something milder but closer to showing a terminal value, try this.
I’m not sure about this terminal value thing—if someone is causing pain because they feel pleasure from it, isn’t pleasure the terminal value?
The question is always whether a given interpretation is useful.
The economist position that defecting in prisoner dilemmas isn’t evil but punishing defectors is evil seems wrongheaded to me.