Hedonism and the experience machine

Barber, Alex (2011). Hedonism and the experience machine. Philosophical Papers, 40(2) pp. 257–278.

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DOI (Digital Object Identifier) Link:	http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1080/05568641.2011.591850
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Abstract

Money isn’t everything, so what is? Many government leaders, social policy theorists, and members of the general public have a ready answer: happiness. This paper examines an opposing view due to Robert Nozick, which centres on his experience-machine thought experiment. Despite the example's influence among philosophers, the argument behind it is riddled with difficulties. Dropping the example allows us to re-version Nozick's argument in a way that makes it far more forceful - and less dependent on people's often divergent intutions about the experience machine.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Copyright Holders:	2011 The Editorial Board, Philosophical Papers
ISSN:	0556-8641
Keywords:	Robert Nozick, Experience Machine, Hedonism, Happiness
Academic Unit/Department:	Arts > Philosophy
Item ID:	29075
Depositing User:	Alexander Barber
Date Deposited:	20 Jul 2011 09:09
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2012 14:40
URI:	http://oro.open.ac.uk/id/eprint/29075

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