The Argument
The argument is along these lines:
- P1: If experiencing as much pleasure as we can is all that matters to us, then if we will experience more pleasure by doing x than by doing y, we have no reason not to do x rather than y.
- P2: We will experience more pleasure if we plug into the experience machine than if we do not plug into the experience machine.
- C1: If all that matters to us is that we experience as much pleasure as we can then we have no reason not to plug into the experience machine. (P1&P2)
- P3: We have reason not to plug into the experience machine.
- C2: Experiencing as much pleasure as we can is not all that matters to us. (C1&P3, by MT)
Read more about this topic: Experience Machine, The Thought Experiment
Famous quotes containing the word argument:
“A striking feature of moral and political argument in the modern world is the extent to which it is innovators, radicals, and revolutionaries who revive old doctrines, while their conservative and reactionary opponents are the inventors of new ones.”
—Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (b. 1929)
“The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one’s opinion, but rather to know it.”
—André Maurois (1885–1967)