Higher Seminar in Practical Philosophy: Graham Oddie (Boulder)

Seminar

Date: Tuesday 30 May 2023

Time: 13.15 – 15.00

Location: D700

The Additivity Fetish: or How I Overcame It and Learned to Love Unified Complexity

Abstract

The metaphor of weight runs deep in the theory of value and rationality. Under the weight of the metaphor, we are inclined to think that, like weights, reasons and values should add up. But additivity can become a fetish. I have spent a good chunk of the last forty years in the grip of this fetish. Like many fetishes, this one may serve a purpose, but it can easily become boring, pointless and even self-defeating. I chronicle my journey of release from the fetish and my slow embrace of the value of unified complexity.