Jason Brennan and Neil Sinhababu

Jason Brennan (left) and Neil Sinhababu (right) on political liberties and hedonism.



In this episode, Brennan and Sinhababu air two different arguments on two different topics. First, Brennan argues, contrary to a widely held view, that a given individual’s political liberties should not be considered valuable for that individual: he contends that political liberties do not achieve the ends that would give them such value. Then (starting at 35:21) Sinhababu presents his argument in favor of universal hedonism: he contends that emotional perception (which often seems contrary to hedonism) is unreliable, whereas phenomenal introspection (which he thinks supports hedonism) is reliable.

Related works

by Brennan:

“Political Liberty: Who Needs It?” (draft)

The Ethics of Voting (forthcoming)

with David Schmidtz, A Brief History of Liberty (2010)

“Polluting the Polls: When Citizens Should Not Vote” (2009)

by Sinhababu:

“The Epistemic Argument for Hedonism” (draft)

“Possible Girls” (2008)

Blog: The Ethical Werewolf

See also:

Juan Comesaña, “We Are (Almost) All Externalists Now” (2005)

Geoffrey Brennan and Loren Lomasky, Democracy and Decision (1997)

Gelman, Silver, and Edlin, “What is the probability your vote will make a difference?” (2008)

More video:

Jason Brennan’s diavlogs (BhTV)

Neil Sinhababu and Jesse Bering (BhTV)

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