EA - New Book: "Minimalist Axiologies: Alternatives to 'Good Minus Bad' Views of Value" by Teo Ajantaival

The Nonlinear Library

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: New Book: "Minimalist Axiologies: Alternatives to 'Good Minus Bad' Views of Value", published by Teo Ajantaival on July 20, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
I have just published a book version of my essay collection titled Minimalist Axiologies: Alternatives to 'Good Minus Bad' Views of Value. You can now read it in your format of choice, including
paperback,
free Kindle, or
free paperback PDF. You can also download a free EPUB version from
Smashwords or the
Center for Reducing Suffering (CRS) website.
To briefly explain what the book is about, below are some blurbs, the Preface, and an abridged Table of Contents.
Blurbs
"Teo Ajantaival's new book is an important, original, and tremendously valuable contribution to value theory, and a badly needed corrective to alternative theories that assume that moral goods and bads are simply additive. Even those who, in the end, may have reservations about a thoroughgoing 'minimalist' theory of value will benefit from Ajantaival's careful and persuasive presentation of this under-appreciated alternative."
Clark Wolf, Director of Bioethics, Professor of Philosophy, Iowa State University
"The idea that happiness and suffering have similar value, just with opposite signs, is so intuitive that it is often accepted without question. Only when we think more deeply about the meaning of intrinsic value does this intuition unravel - and along with it, the flawed notion that extreme suffering is always tolerable if there is enough bliss to compensate for it.
In this volume, Teo Ajantaival strings together six standalone essays on what he terms "minimalist" theories of value, describing a range of views from philosophers who reject the "plus-minus" notion of value. A welcome contribution to the field of ethics, and to the rational justification for giving suffering the prominence it deserves."
Jonathan Leighton, Executive Director of the Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering (OPIS), author of The Battle for Compassion and The Tango of Ethics
Preface
Can suffering be counterbalanced by the creation of other things?
Our answer to this question depends on how we think about the notion of positive value.
In this book, I explore ethical views that reject the idea of intrinsic positive value, and which instead understand positive value in relational terms. Previously, these views have been called purely negative or purely suffering-focused views, and they often have roots in Buddhist or Epicurean philosophy. As a broad category of views, I call them minimalist views.
The term "minimalist axiologies" specifically refers to minimalist views of value: views that essentially say "the less this, the better". Overall, I aim to highlight how these views are compatible with sensible and nuanced notions of positive value, wellbeing, and lives worth living.
A key point throughout the book is that many of our seemingly intrinsic positive values can be considered valuable thanks to their helpful roles for reducing problems such as involuntary suffering. Thus, minimalist views are more compatible with our everyday intuitions about positive value than is usually recognized.
This book is a collection of six essays that have previously been published online. Each of the essays is a standalone piece, and they can be read in any order depending on the reader's interests. So if you are interested in a specific topic, it makes sense to just read one or two essays, or even to just skim the book for new points or references. At the same time, the six essays all complement each other, and together they provide a more cohesive picture.
Since I wanted to keep the essays readable as standalone pieces, the book includes significant repetition of key points and definitions between chapters. Additionally, many core points are repeated even within the sa...