Condorcet's Paradox and the Transitivity of Betterness

Daniel Muñoz (Monash University)

Abstract:  Why are we inclined to think that ‘better than’ is transitive? Larry Temkin’s answer is that we are drawn to the Internal Aspects View, which says that betterness depends on a comparison of context-independent values. Drawing on insights from social choice theory, I show that this view yields a distinctive and underappreciated kind of intransitivity if values can have multiple dimensions aggregated by a non-additive method, such as majority rule.

Bio: Daniel Muñoz is a Lecturer at Monash University, where he teaches ethics and PPE (politics, philosophy, and economics). He received his PhD from MIT in 2019 and has published in a wide range of areas in philosophy: epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and especially normative ethics. These days he is working on a book called What We Owe to Ourselves that tries to derive a view of supererogation (or "good deeds beyond the call of duty") from the idea that we owe the same basic respect to ourselves that we owe to anybody else.

To obtain a Zoom link for this event, please contact the organiser Jacqueline Broad ([email protected]).