Spectrum Arguments, Indeterminacy, and Value Superiority
(2022) p.109-125- Abstract
- Larry Temkin has forcefully argued for the possibility that the value comparative “better than” is not transitive and that the betterness relation can be cyclical. Temkin uses so-called spectrum arguments to argue that the belief that “better than” is transitive is incompatible with other beliefs that are more intuitive, so we should conclude that “better than” is not transitive. I will argue that this is mistaken. Granted what we know about the formal features of value, it can be shown that it is at least as intuitive to reject one of the other beliefs. To be more precise, it is the fact that it can be indeterminate how items relate with respect to their value and what is entailed by the fact that one item may be superior in value to... (More)
- Larry Temkin has forcefully argued for the possibility that the value comparative “better than” is not transitive and that the betterness relation can be cyclical. Temkin uses so-called spectrum arguments to argue that the belief that “better than” is transitive is incompatible with other beliefs that are more intuitive, so we should conclude that “better than” is not transitive. I will argue that this is mistaken. Granted what we know about the formal features of value, it can be shown that it is at least as intuitive to reject one of the other beliefs. To be more precise, it is the fact that it can be indeterminate how items relate with respect to their value and what is entailed by the fact that one item may be superior in value to another that helps us account for why we should not reject the claim that “better than” is transitive. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/fc89239b-e525-410a-9e02-c64c441969e0
- author
- Andersson, Henrik LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- Value Incommensurability : Ethics, Risk, and Decision-Making - Ethics, Risk, and Decision-Making
- editor
- Andersson, Henrik and Herlitz, Anders
- pages
- 17 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- ISBN
- 9781003148012
- 9780367702182
- 9780367707873
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781003148012-8
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- fc89239b-e525-410a-9e02-c64c441969e0
- date added to LUP
- 2021-12-15 14:45:27
- date last changed
- 2023-10-30 17:57:41
@inbook{fc89239b-e525-410a-9e02-c64c441969e0,
abstract = {{Larry Temkin has forcefully argued for the possibility that the value comparative “better than” is not transitive and that the betterness relation can be cyclical. Temkin uses so-called spectrum arguments to argue that the belief that “better than” is transitive is incompatible with other beliefs that are more intuitive, so we should conclude that “better than” is not transitive. I will argue that this is mistaken. Granted what we know about the formal features of value, it can be shown that it is at least as intuitive to reject one of the other beliefs. To be more precise, it is the fact that it can be indeterminate how items relate with respect to their value and what is entailed by the fact that one item may be superior in value to another that helps us account for why we should not reject the claim that “better than” is transitive.}},
author = {{Andersson, Henrik}},
booktitle = {{Value Incommensurability : Ethics, Risk, and Decision-Making}},
editor = {{Andersson, Henrik and Herlitz, Anders}},
isbn = {{9781003148012}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{109--125}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
title = {{Spectrum Arguments, Indeterminacy, and Value Superiority}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003148012-8}},
doi = {{10.4324/9781003148012-8}},
year = {{2022}},
}