hedonism thought experiment

The experience machine or pleasure machine is a thought experiment put forward by philosopher Robert Nozick in his 1974 book Anarchy, State, and Utopia. [1] It is an attempt to refute ethical hedonism by imagining a choice between everyday reality and an apparently preferable simulated reality . A primary thesis of hedonism is that "pleasure is ...

The Experience Machine. The experience machine is a thought experiment first devised by Robert Nozick in the 1970s. In the last decades of the 20 th century, an argument based on this thought experiment has been considered a knock-down objection to hedonism about well-being, the thesis that our well-being—that is, the goodness or badness of our lives for us—is entirely determined by our ...

Each break takes only a few minutes to read, and is crafted to expand your mind and spark your philosophical curiosity. Robert Nozick's experience machine is commonly invoked to argue that there's more to life than pleasure. This article outlines the thought experiment, and discusses why hedonists think it's deeply flawed.

In the thought experiment, Nozick asks us to imagine that we have the choice of plugging in to a fantastic machine that flawlessly provides an amazing mix of experiences. ... Regardless of whether Nozick's experience machine thought experiment is as decisive a refutation of Prudential Hedonism as it is often thought to be, the wider argument ...

Nozick's thought experiment invites us to not only think about the distinction between mere experience and external reality, ... Therefore, the thesis of Ethical Hedonism is false. If Nozick's thought experiment successfully demonstrates that pleasure is not the only thing of value, and in so far as there are any values, then there is a ...

Hedonism is a view about what things are good for us. According to hedonism, the only thing that is good for us is pleasure and the only thing that is bad for us is pain. ... The most serious problems that hedonism faces comes from a thought experiment. This thought experiment is due to Robert Nozick. Imagine that there is a machine, and you ...

Robert Nozick's experience machine thought experiment is often considered a decisive refutation of hedonism. I argue that the conclusions we draw from Nozick's thought experiment ought to be informed by considerations concerning the operation of our intuitions about value. First, I argue that, in order to show that practical hedonistic reasons are not causing our negative reaction to the ...

More specifically, the experience machine thought experiment can be used to refute at least three distinct theories of hedonism: psychological hedonism (also known as descriptive or motivational hedonism; which makes the descriptive claim that pleasure is the ultimate motive for our actions), value hedonism (according to which the only values ...

Intuitions Metaethics Thought experiments Hedonism, whether as a theory of welfare or as a theory of the moral good, is given little serious consideration by contemporary philosophers.1 This is rather surprising, S. Hewitt (&) Department of Philosophy, MS 055, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham,

formulated several arguments against hedonism including the Heap of Filth thought experiment, which were at the time considered to seri-ously undermine hedonism. Third, Robert Nozick then dealt, as Crisp [12, p. 620] puts it, a \near-fatal blow" to hedonism with his famous Experience Machine thought experiment. Although historically somewhat ...

Nozick introduced an experience machine thought experiment to support the idea that happiness requires pleasurable experiences that are "in contact with reality.". In this thought experiment, people can choose to plug into a machine that induces exclusively pleasurable experiences. We test Nozick's hypothesis that people will reject this ...

In Nozick's book Anarchy, State, and Utopia, he wrote about a thought experiment he called: The Experience Machine, in order to refute ethical hedonism. This position states that what is ethical or moral is that which brings the self the most pleasure possible. He uses the example of what he calls a "Pleasure Machine" to show why this point of view is invalid, and tries to prove that we ...

For this reason, a thought experiment in which a moral agent's behavior impacts the lives of others would seem to give us better insight into the merits and shortcomings of welfare hedonism. Let me conclude with a thought experiment that might be offered by a supporter of Nozick in an effort to rebut such criticisms of his thought experiment ...

The Experience Machine is Robert Nozick's classic thought experiment about the importance of being connected to reality. It went through several iterations in his work, ... Nozick thought that the Experience Machine provided an argument against hedonism. Most have agreed. Indeed, Bramble suggests that the influence of the Experience Machine ...

Robert Nozick (1938-2002) attacked the hedonistic idea that pleasure is the only good by testing our intuitions via a now famous thought-experiment. Nozick asks: Suppose there was an experience machine that would give you any experience you desired. Super-duper neuropsychologists could stimulate your brain so that you would think and feel you ...

Tim's Answer: This is a thought experiment proposed by philosopher Robert Nozick in order to refute the philosophy of ethical hedonism. Hedonism suggests that the only thing that matters is human pleasure, and that the only goal should be to maximize pleasure. If hedonism is legit, said Nozick, then everyone would immediately elect to plug ...

Conclusions often drawn from the famous thought experiment seem problematic. ... may well not have to do with the importance of retaining contact with reality or with the incorrectness of hedonism ...

Abstract Robert Nozick's experience machine thought experiment is often considered a decisive refutation of hedonism. I argue that the conclusions we draw from Nozick's thought experiment ought to be informed by considerations concerning the operation of our intuitions about value.

thought-experiments and the value of non-axiological conceptualizations of human life and human goods, many philosophers have accepted this framework of discourse on hedonism. Some find Nozick's thought experiment as the most influential anti-hedonism argument in contemporary philosophy (Crisp 2006, pp. 117ff).

What makes our life go best? Is being happy all that matters? Is a life of blissful ignorance a good life? Or is there more to a good life than this? In this...

Some presumed refutations of hedonism take an odd form. Nozick's thought experiment of the experience machine has become quite (in)famous in this regard. Nozick asked his readers if they were ...

In refutation of hedonism, Nozick offered a hypothetical thought experiment, known as the Experience Machine. This paper maintains that end-of-life-suffering of the kind that is resistant to state-of-the-art palliation provides a conceptually equal experiment which validates Nozick's observations and conclusions.

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In refutation of hedonism, Nozick offered a hypothetical thought experiment, known as the Experience Machine. This paper maintains that end-of-life-suffering of the kind that is resistant to state-of-the-art palliation provides a conceptually equal experiment which validates Nozick's observations and conclusions. The observation that very many terminal patients who suffer terribly do no wish ...