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The Good, the Bad, and the Transitivity of Better Than *
Author(s) -
Nebel Jacob M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
noûs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.574
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1468-0068
pISSN - 0029-4624
DOI - 10.1111/nous.12198
Subject(s) - transitive relation , pleasure , form of the good , spectrum (functional analysis) , pain and pleasure , epistemology , positive economics , psychology , social psychology , philosophy , economics , mathematics , physics , combinatorics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
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.