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Departmental Research Seminar
Departmental Research Seminar for students and staff
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Seminar
Our departmental research seminar talks will take place on Wednesdays during term time from 15:00 to 16:30, in room 005, 48 Old Elvet, Durham, DH1 3HN.
This week's speaker is Dr Gary O'Brien (Lingnan).
Title: "Population Axiology, Diversity, and Connection to Reality"
Abstract: Population axiology aims to evaluate populations according to the welfare of their members and how that welfare is distributed. Standard population axiologies face two challenges: the Diversity Problem - the difficulty of accommodating the intuition that, all else being equal, diverse populations are more valuable than homogeneous ones - and the Disconnection Problem - the intuition that populations whose members engage with reality are more valuable than those whose members are significantly disconnected from it. I propose the Positive Engagement Principle (PEP) as a possible response: all else being equal, it is impersonally better if more aspects of reality are positively engaged with by sentient beings. Unlike purely welfarist approaches, PEP allows populations with identical levels of welfare to differ in value according to how their members engage with reality. I motivate PEP through thought experiments involving knowledge, aesthetic appreciation, and pleasure, and sketch an account of the contributive value of welfare that incorporates the value of such engagement.
Pricing
N/A