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 | | Arguments for Value Incommensurability | |
After determining what incommensurability and incomparability are, the next step is to assess the arguments for and against these possibilities. That is the task of this section.The most direct argument against the possibility that values are incommensurable is based on value monism (e.g., Mill 1979 and Sidgwick 1981). Donald Regan, for example, argues that “given any two items (objects, experiences, states of affairs, whatever) sufficiently well specified so that it is apposite to inquire into their (intrinsic) value in the Moorean sense, then either one is better than the other, or the two are precisely equal in value” (Regan 1997, 129).This argument has been questioned. Ruth Chang, for example, points out, with reference to John Stuart Mill, that values may have both qualitative and quantitative aspects such that a single value may have qualitative dimensions that give rise to incomparability (Chang 1997b, 16-17).For purposes of this entry, it will not be assumed that value monism rules out incomparability of bearers of value. The additional assumption required for value monism to rule out incomparability is that the single value serves as a complete common measure for comparing any two bearers of value. A common measure is complete if and only if for any two alternatives that display the respects that comprise the common measure, it is true that some positive value judgment holds true in virtue of that list of respects.In any case, many philosophers argue for some form of value pluralism (Berlin 1969, Finnis 1981, Nagel 1979, Raz 1986, Stocker 1990, Taylor 1982, Williams 1981). Although this entry will not assume value pluralism, most philosophers who argue for incommensurability or incomparability are value pluralists, so it will be simpler to present their views by talking of separate values. 3.1 Does Incomparability Imply Incommensurability?In the choice between the musical and legal careers in Raz’s example, each career appears to be favored by different considerations. In the case of the musical career, such considerations may include those of aesthetic value, whereas in the case of the legal career, such considerations may include the value in serving one’s fellow citizens. If these values were commensurable, it seems that the careers would be comparable. In this manner, the incomparability of bearers of value has been taken to support the possibility that values are incommensurable.Three sorts of objections have been raised against this line of reasoning. First, as noted in subsection 2.2, some authors object on epistemic grounds to the case for incomparability (e.g., Regan 1997). These authors point out that the evaluative judgments involved in proposed examples of incomparability are complex, involving multiple considerations. In turn, we may be mistaken when we make the judgment of two items that neither is better than the other nor are they equally good. Instead, it may be that one of the three standard comparative relations obtains between the items in question.The second objection begins with the claim that one can always specify a set of relevant considerations in virtue of which a comparison can be made. Chang, for example, writes “in choosing between two careers, various considerations are relevant … if, indeed, there is no further single consideration that combines those considerations, we can simply stipulate one, for example, ‘goodness of career,’ which is nothing more than a list of the various relevant considerations” (2002b, 667). In turn, if we acknowledge the possibility that items thought incomparable are, in fact, comparable by way of “roughly equal” or “on a par,” then it would appear that “goodness of career” serves as a common measure against which to compare the musical and legal careers in Raz’s example. There is no lack of a common measure.One response to this objection is to distinguish between the way in which people rank bearers of value when they judge them to be “roughly equal” or “on a par” and the way in which people rank bearers of value when they judge them to be “equally good.” In the case of equally good items, the choice of either is justified because the gain involved in choosing one item is supposed to fully cancel the loss in not choosing the other item. In the case of “roughly equal” or “on a par,” however, it is not clear that this must be the case. Items that are “roughly equal” or “on a par” are valuable in virtue of different respects; the value realized in choosing one item may not cancel the loss in not choosing the other. Bearers of value may be “roughly equal” or “on a par” with respect to some set of values even though the values display a central feature of incommensurable values—namely, that the gain in one value does not cancel the loss in another.The question then arises whether bearers of value can be comparable even though the values they bear are incommensurable. If so, it may be said that what distinguishes a list of respects, such as “goodness of career,” from a common measure is that it is only in the case of a common measure that the gain in one value cancels the loss in another. In a comparison with regard to a list of respects, it may be said, the gain in one respect need not cancel the loss in another respect.The third objection points out that even if we do not accept the comparability of the musical and legal careers in Raz’s example, some versions of the musical career and legal career appear comparable. In John Broome’s account discussed in subsection 2.1, the initial musical career is comparable with particularly bad legal careers. The comparison between the initial musical career and a bad legal career is an example of what Chang refers to as a “nominal-notable comparison”—a comparison between a fine exemplar of a value and a poor exemplar of a value (1997b, 14). Given that the comparisons involve the same set of considerations, does the ability to rank some careers suggest that the values involved in the initial comparison are in fact commensurable so there is, in fact, a common measure?This question arises in part because the way in which the musical career is judged better than the bad legal career does not appear to be a case of dominance. In a case of dominance, one alternative is better than another with respect to at least one of the values against which the comparison is made and worse with respect to none. Insofar as dominance is not thought to rely on there being a common measure, ranking by way of dominance need not rule out the incommensurability of values. The judgment that the musical career is better than the bad legal career, however, does not appear to be a case of dominance. The musical career may be judged better than the bad legal career even though the bad legal career is better than the musical career in some respects. For example, the bad legal career may be better than the musical career with respect to the value of protecting the legal rights of fellow citizens. This suggests that the judgment is in virtue of a common measure. Regan, for example, uses an argument along these lines to challenge the possibility that values are incommensurable (1997, 135).One response to this third objection is that comparability in the case of nominal-notable comparisons need not rule out the incommensurability of values. As noted at the outset of this section, the incomparability of bearers of value is taken to suggest that the values they bear are incommensurable. As long as there are some cases in which bearers of value are incomparable, even if bearers of value are comparable in the case of nominal-notable comparisons, the conditions for value incommensurability are satisfied.It may be objected that just because some careers are incomparable with respect to “goodness as a career” in Raz’s example, we should not rule out “goodness as a career” as a common measure. According to this view, it is a mistake to assume that for a list of respects (e.g., “goodness of career”) to serve as a common measure, it must be “complete”—meaning that for any two alternatives that display those respects, it is true that some positive value judgment holds true in virtue of that list of respects.In response, it is not clear what is gained for the analysis of value incommensurability by calling “goodness as a career” a common measure. First, calling “goodness as a career” a common measure for comparing the legal and musical careers would change neither the judgment that one career is not better than the other nor the judgment that they are not equally good. The general phenomenon remains the same. Second, lack of completeness can arise for a number of different reasons. The concept of value incommensurability aims to capture what underlies the lack of completeness in comparisons between alternatives such as the legal and musical careers. Also, there might be other ways to capture the lack of completeness. 3.2 Constitutive IncommensurabilityA second argument for incommensurable values is grounded in the idea that value incommensurability is constitutive of certain goods and values. In keeping with the usage in this entry, in some instances, “constitutive incomparability” is perhaps a more appropriate term than “constitutive incommensurability.” The reason for this is that the case for constitutive incommensurability of values often relies on the apparent incomparability of specific bearers of value. Two versions of this second argument will be discussed here.One version of this argument comes from Joseph Raz. Consider being offered a significant amount of money to leave one’s spouse for a month. The indignation that is typically experienced in response to such an offer, according to Raz, is grounded in part in the symbolic significance of certain actions (1986, 349). In this case, “what has symbolic significance is the very judgment that companionship is incommensurable with money” (1986, 350). Although this form of value incommensurability looks like trumping, Raz does not see this as a case of trumping. He rejects the view that companionship is more valuable than money. If such a view were correct, then those who forgo companionship for money would be acting against reason (1986, 352). Instead, Raz takes the view that a “belief in incommensurability is itself a qualification for having certain relations” (1986, 351). Someone who does not regard companionship and money as incommensurable simply has chosen a kind of life that may be fulfilling in many ways, but being capable of having companionship is not one of them.In Raz’s account, the symbolic significance of judging money to be incommensurable with companionship involves the existence of a social convention that determines participation in that convention (e.g., marriage) that requires a belief in value incommensurability. This conventional nature of belief in value incommensurability in Raz’s account raises a question for some authors about its robustness as an account of value incommensurability. For example, Chang objects that incommensurability appears to become relative to one’s participation in social conventions (2001, 48). It remains an open question how much of a problem this point raises. Raz’s account appears to illustrate a basic sense in which the values of money and companionship can be incommensurable. Insofar as it is not against reason to choose money over companionship, there is no general way to resolve a conflict of values between money and companionship. In Raz’s account, the resolution depends upon which social convention one has chosen to pursue.Elizabeth Anderson advances a second argument for constitutive incommensurability. Her account is grounded in a pragmatic account of value. Anderson reduces “‘x is good’ roughly to ‘it is rational to value x,’ where to value something is to adopt toward it a favorable attitude susceptible to rational reflection” (1997, 95). She argues that in virtue of these attitudes there may be no good reason to compare the overall values of two goods. Pragmatism holds that if such a comparison serves no practical function, then the comparative value judgment has no truth value, meaning that the goods are incommensurable (1997, 99). Because the favorable attitudes one adopts toward goods help to make them good, Anderson’s account can be seen as an argument for constitutive incommensurability (Chang 2001, 49).Anderson advances three ways in which there may be no good reason to compare the overall values of goods. First, it may be boring or pointless to engage in comparison. To illustrate, “the project of comprehensively ranking all works of art in terms of their intrinsic aesthetic value is foolish, boring, and stultifying” (1997, 100). Second, Anderson points to instances in which “it makes sense to leave room for the free play of nonrational motivations like whims and moods” as in the choice of what to do on a leisurely Sunday afternoon (1997, 91). Third, Anderson argues that the roles that goods play in deliberation can be so different that “attempts to compare them head to head are incoherent” (1997, 91). Imagine that the only way to save one’s dying mother is to give up a friendship. Rather than compare their overall values, argues Anderson, ordinary moral thinking focuses on what one owes to one’s mother and one’s friends (1997, 102). This focus on obligation recognizes mother and friend each to be intrinsically valuable and yet valuable in different ways (1997, 103). There is no good reason, according to Anderson, to compare their overall values with regard to some common measure.Chang argues against each of the three points raised by Anderson (Chang 2001). In response to the first point, Chang notes there are occasions in which comparisons do need to be made between goods for which Anderson argues there is no good reason to make comparisons. In response to the second point, Chang argues that the range of instances for which the second argument applies is small. In response to the third point, Chang contends that Anderson’s argument assumes that if goods are comparable then they have some value or evaluative property in common. Chang points out that this need not be the case. As discussed above in subsection 3.1, the comparability of goods need not entail value commensurability. | |
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