Is the esse of intrinsic value percipi?: pleasure, pain and value

Abstract

Intrinsic value is identical to pleasurableness as a quality of experience, while negative intrinsic value corresponds to painfulness or unpleasurableness. This hedonistic theory rests on the premise that the essence of value consists in its being experienced. Both idealism and empiricism support this identification: if to be is to be perceived or experienced, then the “esse” of goodness is its being felt as good, a state virtually synonymous with pleasure. A defining feature of objective value is its inherent magnetism or necessary attraction for the will. Pleasure and pain are the only properties that satisfy this requirement, as the belief that an experience will be pleasurable essentially tends to encourage desire for its occurrence. While goals need not always be pleasures themselves, human motivation is governed by a basic hedonic mechanism where pleasurable ideas of outcomes prompt actions to realize them. This framework supports a universalist hedonistic ethic, specifically a “way-of-life utilitarianism,” which accommodates qualitatively diverse pleasures and accounts for altruism through the vivid imaginative realization of others’ experiences. Ultimately, a panpsychist ontology suggests that because the inner nature of all physical processes is experiential, intrinsic value is a pervasive feature of the natural world. – AI-generated abstract.