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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
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    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that A perfect single-number hedonimeter measuring happiness with full precision may be impossible even in principle.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Happiness might involve multiple dimensions.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Those dimensions either cannot be precisely quantified or cannot be summed into a single value.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Bentham's own felicific calculus required seven independent dimensions (intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, extent), each raising distinct incommensurability problems.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Ruth Chang's work on 'on a par' relations demonstrates that value comparisons can be neither equal, greater, nor lesser, making aggregation into a single number formally incomplete.
      ?

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    • 3.If even two hedonic states can stand in a 'parity' relation resistant to cardinal ordering, then a single-number hedonimeter would systematically misrepresent the structure of hedonic value.
      ?

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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Pleasure and pain involve phenomenal qualia whose intrinsic character resists reduction to any uniform cardinal scale, as argued by Nagel's 'what it is like' framework.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Interpersonal comparisons of hedonic intensity require a common unit that cannot be grounded in either behavioral or neurological data without begging the question.
      ?

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