The Moral Value of

Utility and Authenticity

DR. BENJAMIN WINOKUR
FC-0503-2: MIND AND BEHAVIOUR
MARCH 16 T H , 2023
Robert Nozick:
“even if happiness were
the only thing we cared about, we
would not care solely about its total
amount.”
 Doctors, Trolleys, and Thanos, Oh my!

A doctor can kill a healthy person and take four of their organs to save four unhealthy people…
Should she do it?
Some philosophical reasoning
from members of the world’s
most venerated profession:

Youtuber
 The Experience Machine

You can plug into a machine that gives you any experiences you want,
without your realizing that the experiences are simulated

Do you plug in?

Some initial
inspiration 
 DESIGN THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE
MACHINE LIFE:

1. …
2. …
3. …
4. …
5. …
 Three Reasons not to plug in

1. We cannot really act in the experience machine

2. “Someone floating in a tank is an indeterminate blob…Is he courageous, kind, intelligent,

witty, loving? It's not merely that it's difficult to tell; there's no way he is. Plugging into the
machine is a kind of suicide.”

3. We lack genuine contact with others and the world in the experience machine
 Nozick’s Lesson
“We learn that something matters to us in
addition to experience by imagining an
experience machine and then realizing that we
would not use it…
…Perhaps what we desire is to live…ourselves, in
contact with reality.”

Again: do you plug in?

The Argument In Sum(?)

1. Utilitarian cares about maximized happiness / utility

2. We do / should not value maximized utility if it is inauthentic
3. Maximized happiness / utility is not all that matters
 Utilitarian Responses to The Experience Machine Argument (1)

People might not choose to plug in simply due to “status quo bias” (IEP)

“Imagine an investment banker with no relatives,

working for twenty-five years with little or no job
satisfaction. Her only pleasure in life is to come
home after a twelve-hour work day and read
passages from Zen Buddhist philosophers. In fact,
she’s come to believe that her life would be much
better if she used her considerable wealth to move
to Asia and study Zen Buddhism. Though she could
have reason to believe that such a life would be
better (given whatever conception of the good she
has), she does not necessarily feel comfortable
with such a drastic life change.” (Adam Kolber,
1994-1995: 13-14)
 Utilitarian Responses to The Experience Machine Argument (2)

There are conditions where

entering the machine

may seem correct!

 Utilitarian Responses to The Experience Machine Argument (2)

1. Utility is higher when it is authentic

2. The experience machine doesn’t give authentic utility

3. Therefore, it can be rational for utilitarians not to enter the machine

4. Therefore, utilitarians can agree with Nozick: don’t plug in!

Next Class: a non-utilitarian account of morality...

WARNING: YOU MAY FIND THE READING CHALLENGING!

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