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    Utility functions systematically fail to capture adaptive... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Distributional issues such as egalitarian evaluation require interpersonal comparisons of well-being, which can be understood in terms of utilities.

    Utility functions systematically fail to capture adaptive preferences, where oppressed individuals adjust desires to constrained circumstances.

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    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Oppressed groups demonstrate preference reversals when constraints change (e.g., education access), suggesting prior preferences were adaptive, not genuine.
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    • 2.Utility functions measure stated choices, not underlying well-being. An enslaved person maximizing available options doesn't reveal true preferences.
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    • 3.Neuroscience shows chronic constraint activates habituation mechanisms that dampen desire itself, making utility functions confuse coping with satisfaction.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.All preferences form under constraints. Without a pre-constraint baseline, 'adaptive' is unfalsifiable—distinguishing it from ordinary preference formation becomes impossible.
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    • 2.If revealed preferences don't measure genuine desires, we lose grounds to criticize oppression for reducing utility. The critique becomes metaphysical, not empirical.
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    • 3.People within identical constraints show vast preference diversity, suggesting individual factors, not systematic adaptation, explain preference variation.
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    Connections

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    Consequentialism1 linkedJustice & Punishment1 linked

    Related

    All preferences form under constraints. Without a pre-constraint baseline, 'adap...Distributional issues such as egalitarian evaluation require interpersonal compa...If revealed preferences don't measure genuine desires, we lose grounds to critic...Neuroscience shows chronic constraint activates habituation mechanisms that damp...
    +3 moreShow less
    Oppressed groups demonstrate preference reversals when constraints change (e.g.,...People within identical constraints show vast preference diversity, suggesting i...Utility functions measure stated choices, not underlying well-being. An enslaved...

    Details

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit