Value Additivity: Prospects and Problems

CFA for a 1-Day Workshop: Value Additivity: Prospects and Problems 

Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Event date: April 29, 2024

Confirmed speakers:

Ralf Bader (Université de Fribourg)

Erik Carlson (Uppsala Universitet)

It seems natural that to arrive at a conclusion about the value of something complex (like a world), we can simply add up the positive values of its parts and subtract their negative ones. The purpose of this workshop is to explore some of the apparent obstacles to this additivity of value. We welcome both metaethical/axiological and normative (including political) perspectives on this general theme. More narrow topics that we would be interested in include (but are not limited to):

• Value superiority/higher goods

• Incomparability, incommensurability, and vagueness

• Interactions between different value types

• The intuition of neutrality in population ethics

• Other implications for normative theory

You may submit either a short or extended abstract in a PDF format, between 250-1,000 words (inclusive of notes but exclusive of the bibliography). Selected papers should be suitable for a 30-minute presentation and a 20-minute Q/A. The submission deadline is January 12, 2024. We strongly encourage individuals from underrepresented groups to submit their work.

The workshop will be a one day event at the Philosophy department at Lund University, which is only a short train ride away from Copenhagen airport. There will be a complimentary lunch and dinner. In addition, we may be able to provide some support for accommodation and travel expenses for those facing funding limitations.

Please send your abstract to the organizers, Andrés Garcia (andres.garcia[at]fil.lu.se) and Henrik Andersson (henrik.andersson[at]fil.lu.se). Include the words “Value Additivity” in the title of your email message.

The workshop is generously financed by Dagmar Persson’s Fund.