Measuring life's goodness

Philosophical Books 48 (4):303-319 (2007)
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Abstract

Philosophers often assume that we can somehow quantitatively measure how good things are for people. But what does such talk mean? And what are the measures? In *Weighing Goods* John Broome offers one treatment of these questions. In his later *Weighing Lives* he offers a different treatment. This article discusses both positions but advocates a third. But while the three positions disagree about matters of meaning, they agree about the form of the measures. Roughly speaking, they are such that the goodness of a lottery for an individual is equal to its expected goodness for her.

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David McCarthy
University of Hong Kong

Citations of this work

The priority view.David McCarthy - 2017 - Economics and Philosophy 33 (2):215–57.
Distributive equality.David McCarthy - 2015 - Mind 124 (496):1045-1109.
Utilitarianism and prioritarianism II.David McCarthy - 2008 - Economics and Philosophy 24 (1):1-33.
Utilitarianism and Prioritarianism II.David McCarthy - 2008 - Economics and Philosophy 24 (1):1-33.
Utilitarianism and prioritarianism I.David Mccarthy - 2006 - Economics and Philosophy 22 (3):335-363.

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References found in this work

New work for a theory of universals.David K. Lewis - 1983 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 61 (4):343-377.
How to define theoretical terms.David Lewis - 1970 - Journal of Philosophy 67 (13):427-446.
Models and reality.Hilary Putnam - 1980 - Journal of Symbolic Logic 45 (3):464-482.

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