9/17/2023 0 Comments Robert nozick 1974![]() ![]() Conclusion 1: 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.Premise 2: We will experience more pleasure if we plug into the experience machine than if we do not plug into the experience machine.Premise 1: 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 to do y rather than x.While interesting, these variations do not directly affect the argument either. For instance, Nozick claims that you could either map out the rest of your life in the machine before plugging in, or you could unplug periodically to choose your programming for the next cycle. The experiment is also open to multiple interpretations. One could simply stipulate that the machines have been so well designed as to be fail-proof. Who would run the machines if everyone plugs in? Nozick asks us to ignore this concern, since it does not adversely affect the thought experiment. Nozick also believes that if pleasure were the only intrinsic value, people would have an overriding reason to be hooked up to an "experience machine," which would produce favorable sensations. He then asks, if given the choice, would we prefer the machine to real life? In this thought experiment, psychologists have figured out a way to stimulate a person's brain to induce pleasurable experiences that the subject could not distinguish from those he would have apart from the machine. Nozick asks us to imagine a machine that could give us whatever desirable or pleasurable experiences we could want. If he can show that there is something other than pleasure that has value and thereby increases well-being, then hedonism is refuted. Nozick attacks the thesis by means of a thought experiment. This is a view held by many value theorists, but most famously by some classical utilitarians. ![]() It is an attempt to refute ethical hedonism by imagining a choice between everyday reality and an apparently preferable simulated reality.Ī primary thesis of hedonism is that "pleasure is the good", which leads to the argument that any component of life that is not pleasurable does nothing directly to increase one's well-being. The experience machine or pleasure machine is a thought experiment put forward by philosopher Robert Nozick in his 1974 book Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Thought experiment posed by Robert Nozick ![]()
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