Work

Aggregation and the Structure of Value

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Roughly, the view I call “Additivism” sums up value across time and people. Given some standard assumptions, I show that Additivism follows from two principles. The first says that how lives align in time cannot, in itself, matter. The second says, roughly, that a world cannot be better unless it is better within some period or another. These principles, while plausible, presuppose a rich underlying structure of value—presuppositions that are implicit in the standard numerical framework of population ethics but that are often overlooked. A careful exploration of Additivism and the case for it reveals intricate connections between substantive questions about what value fundamentally consists in and structural questions about how to aggregate value.

Source: Noûs

DOI: 10.1111/nous.70026

Author: Weng Kin San

Institution: London School of Economics and Political Science

Language: English

Topic: Philosophical Ethics and Theory

Subfield: Philosophy

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,900

Funder: Yale University