One of the other problems with hedonism is that its difficult to get an altruistic (ot any extent over complete egoism) theory out of it. Only my pain exists for me .. I don’t feel other people’s suffering directly. I might suppose by analogy that their pains are bad for them, but I don’t know it by direct acquaintance...and what is supposed to tell me that I have a duty to ameliorate suffering I don’t feel? I could bundle it into some additional axiom:-
Pain is bad.
I have a duty to reduce all pain, including pain that doesn’t exist for me phenomenally. That is a thing I should do.
But 2 is obviously normative, and isn’t obviously naturalistic.
It might be the case that 2-like statements can be built out of naturalistic elements...but it could be the case that they are then doing all the lifting, and 1 isn’t necessary. It could then be the case that I do have a duty to support some kind of preferences or values that I don’t have direct access to....but not necessarily hedonistic ones.
One of the other problems with hedonism is that its difficult to get an altruistic (ot any extent over complete egoism) theory out of it. Only my pain exists for me .. I don’t feel other people’s suffering directly. I might suppose by analogy that their pains are bad for them, but I don’t know it by direct acquaintance...and what is supposed to tell me that I have a duty to ameliorate suffering I don’t feel? I could bundle it into some additional axiom:-
Pain is bad.
I have a duty to reduce all pain, including pain that doesn’t exist for me phenomenally. That is a thing I should do.
But 2 is obviously normative, and isn’t obviously naturalistic.
It might be the case that 2-like statements can be built out of naturalistic elements...but it could be the case that they are then doing all the lifting, and 1 isn’t necessary. It could then be the case that I do have a duty to support some kind of preferences or values that I don’t have direct access to....but not necessarily hedonistic ones.