The Good, the Bad, and the Transitivity of Better Than
Noûs 52 (4):874-899 (2018)
Abstract
The Rachels–Temkin spectrum arguments against the transitivity of better than involve good or bad experiences, lives, or outcomes that vary along multiple dimensions—e.g., duration and intensity of pleasure or pain. This paper presents variations on these arguments involving combinations of good and bad experiences, which have even more radical implications than the violation of transitivity. These variations force opponents of transitivity to conclude that something good is worse than something that isn’t good, on pain of rejecting the good altogether. That is impossible, so we must reject the spectrum arguments.Author's Profile
DOI
10.1111/nous.12198
My notes
Similar books and articles
Betterness, Spectrum Cases and the Challenge to Transitivity in Axiology.Oscar Horta - 2011 - Diacritica 25:125-137.
Vaulting Intuition: Temkin's Critique of Transitivity.Alex Voorhoeve - 2013 - Economics and Philosophy 29 (3):409-425.
Defending transitivity against zeno’s paradox.Ken Binmore & Alex Voorhoeve - 2003 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 31 (3):272–279.
On the Cycle-Transitivity of the Dice Model.B. de Schuymer, H. de Meyer, B. de Baets & S. Jenei - 2003 - Theory and Decision 54 (3):261-285.
Essentially Comparative Value Does Not Threaten Transitivity.Toby Handfield - 2016 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 5 (1):3-12.
An experimental investigation of transitivity in set ranking.Amélie Vrijdags - 2010 - Theory and Decision 68 (1-2):213-232.
Counterexamples to the transitivity of better than.Stuart Rachels - 1998 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 76 (1):71 – 83.
A General Concept of Being a Part of a Whole.Andrzej Pietruszczak - 2014 - Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 55 (3):359-381.
The Costs of Transitivity: Thoughts on Larry Temkin’s Rethinking the Good.Shelly Kagan - 2015 - Journal of Moral Philosophy 12 (4):462-478.
Probabilistic causality and the question of transitivity.Ellery Eells & Elliott Sober - 1983 - Philosophy of Science 50 (1):35-57.
Intransitivity.Stuart Rachels - 2001 - In Lawrence C. Becker Mary Becker & Charlotte Becker (eds.), Encyclopedia of Ethics, Volume 2. Routledge.
Theories and the transitivity of confirmation.Mary Hesse - 1970 - Philosophy of Science 37 (1):50-63.
Rethinking the Good: Moral Ideals and the Nature of Practical Reasoning.Larry S. Temkin - 2011 - Oxford University Press USA.
Analytics
Added to PP
2016-12-18
Downloads
3,284 (#1,246)
6 months
139 (#4,979)
2016-12-18
Downloads
3,284 (#1,246)
6 months
139 (#4,979)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Totalism without Repugnance.Jacob M. Nebel - 2022 - In Jeff McMahan, Tim Campbell, James Goodrich & Ketan Ramakrishnan (eds.), Ethics and Existence: The Legacy of Derek Parfit. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 200-231.
Spectrum arguments and hypersensitivity.Theron Pummer - 2018 - Philosophical Studies 175 (7):1729-1744.
Sorites On What Matters.Theron Pummer - 2022 - In Jeff McMahan, Timothy Campbell, Ketan Ramakrishnan & Jimmy Goodrich (eds.), Ethics and Existence: The Legacy of Derek Parfit. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 498–523.
References found in this work
Reasons and Persons.Joseph Margolis - 1986 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 47 (2):311-327.