Desirism Book: Part I - Table of Contents

Well, here's a lists of posts for the first part of the Desirism Book series.

If you are looking for a place to go (or to send people) to see at least the foundations of desirism, before we start adding flesh to the bones, this would be the place to go.

Part 0001: Introduction. Some words about the methodology and goals for what follows.

Part 0002: One Person, One Desire. We start with one person (Alph) and one desire (a desire to gather stones).

Part 0003: Means, Ends, and Unintended Consequences A look at the the three ways that the consequences of intentional action can be related to desires.

Part 0003.5: Sisyphus and Alph An examination of what these ideas say about the life of Sisyphus - condemned to try to roll a rock uphill only to have it fall back.

Part 0004: Ultimate Ends. A discussion of some different views of what can count as the ultimate ends of intentional action such as happiness.

Part 0005: Intrinsic, Instrumental, and End Values An examination of the relationship between desire and value.

Part 0006: Nozick's Experience Machine An examination of Robert Nozick's though experiment - do people have reason to choose to spend their lives inside an experience machine?

Part 0007: Reasons An examination of the concept of reasons for intentional action with a focus on Bernard Williams' "A has a reason to φ iff A has some desire the satisfaction of which will be served by his φ-ing."

Part 0008: Desire (Preference) Satisfaction An examination of the similarities and differences between desire fulfillment and preference satisfaction.

Part 0009: Pushpin and Poetry A look at the claims that Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill made regarding the relative worth of pushpin to poetry.

Part 0010: GE Moore's Beautiful World A look at G.E. Moore's claim that it is better that a beautiful world exist even if nobody were around to experience it.

Part 0010.5: Hume's Destruction of the World An examination of David Hume's idea that it need not be irrational to prefer the destruction of the world to a cut on one's finger.

Part 0011: Socrates, the Pig, and the Unbiased Observer It is, as John Stuart Mill claims, better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied?

Part 0012: The Reader's Point of View The ability of a reader's sentiments to obscure the conclusions of these essays.

Part 0013: The Value of Truth True beliefs commonly determine the difference between successfully and unsuccessfully fulfilling a desire.

Part 0014: The Truth about Value The ability for a value claim to be objectively true.

Part 0015: The Location Analogy Using location claims to explain how statements can be objectively true or false without being about intrinsic properties.

Part 0016: Realism about Values The sense in which value claims are claims about real things.

Part 0017: Summary of One Person and One Desire Before bringing a second person into this world, this posting summarizes the important parts of the discussion involving one person with one desire.

Part 0018: Introducing Bett Adding a second person to our world and giving this new person a desire.

Part 0019: Incentives and Deterrence Attempting to mold Bett's behavior by the use of incentives and deterrence.

Part 0020: A Belief in Goodness Rejection of the idea that it is possible to modify behavior by modifying beliefs in goodness alone.

Part 0021: Molding Desires The use of rewards (such as praise) and punishment (such as condemnation) to modify desires themselves.

Part 0022: Proto-Morality A case where everybody has reason to use condemnation to promote a desire among all people in a society.