Valence
Valence is the property that determines how good a moment of consciousness feels. Unlike terms like "pleasure" or "happiness" that tend to be associated with a particular kind of positive emotion, valence is maximally inclusive, subsuming every flavor of positivity and negativity. Valence is frame-invariant.
Existence, Nature, and Dimensionality
The folk language term that most closely resembles valence is "well-being". The difference between both terms it that speaking about "valence" assumes that the referenced phenomenon is quantifiable and frame-invariant, whereas the term "well-being" can also be used under the assumption that the concept is intrinsically subjective (i.e., frame-dependent). Thus, if one agrees with the assumption, both terms become mostly synonymous, but if one does not, they are substantially different. In this way, the relationship between valence and well-being is analogous to that between qualia and consciousness.
In PrincipiaQualia, QRI co-founder Michael Edward Johnson coined the terms Valence Realism as the claim that valence exists and Valence Structuralism as the additional claim that it has regularity and structure. These two postulates are roughly analogous to realism about consciousness and Qualia Structuralism.
If one accepts valence structuralism, one can further ask what kind of object valence is and how many dimensions it has. The one-dimensional case would make it a number and allow comparisons between the valence of different systems (or a single system at different points in time). However, one can argue that "quality" and "arousal" of an experience can vary independently (e.g., you listen to a song you feel indifferent toward on high volume, leading to high arousal but neutral quality), which points toward valence as a two-dimensional object. Furthermore, experiences can be mixed (e.g., you listen to your favorite song while also experiencing back pain), which suggests that each set of bound qualia has its own valence, in which case a globally bound set of qualia would comprise several such objects.
It is also possible that objects of different types can coherently describe valence on different levels. E.g., there might be a precise formula to compute the overall valence of a bound set of qualia based on its arousal and intensity, or even to compute the overall valence of a unified experience based on the valences of its components.
Ethical Considerations
Valence realism as such is a descriptive claim that doesn't entail any normative consequences. In other words, it is possible to accept valence realism without considering valence a relevant moral variable. The position that does ascribe it a central role is widely known as (classical) utilitarianism and is typically attributed to Jeremy Bentham,[1] although similar ideas can be traced back at least to ancient Greece around 400 BCE.[2]
There are many prominent criticisms of utilitarianism,[3][4] but such criticisms are rarely aimed entirely at the idea of optimizing for well-being. Instead, they often criticize a particular conception of well-being as overly restrictive, and they don't always distinguish between both points. (It's worth noting that instead of "well-being", Bentham generally used the terms "happiness", "suffering", and "utility".) There are also attempts to extend utilitarianism, most notably by John Stuart Mill,[5] who emphasized the quality of happiness. His work can be considered as closing the gap between happiness/pleasure and valence, but it is unclear to what extent (if at all) Jeremy Bentham originally intended for his notion of "happiness" to be less than maximally inclusive.[6]
The most precise name for the principle that prescribes maximization of valence is valence utilitarianism, although this term is nonstandard in the literature. As indicated above, it is unclear whether valence utilitarianism is a modification or a mere restatement of Bentham's classical utilitarianism, but it removes the ambiguity since the term valence makes implicit the conception of well-being as maximally inclusive and frame-invariant. It also assumes that valence can be put on at least an interval scale since otherwise, the valence of different systems cannot be added together.
The Symmetry Theory of Valence
- Main Article: Symmetry Theory of Valence
The Symmetry Theory of Valence (STV) states that the valence of a moment of consciousness corresponds precisely to the symmetry of the mathematical object that describes it. The STV was proposed by QRI co-founder Mike Johnson in PrincipiaQualia.
Resources
- superhappiness.xyz – a book by QRI detailing several approaches for increasing valence in daily life.
References
- ↑ Bentham, J. (1789/1996). The collected works of Jeremy Bentham: An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. Clarendon Press.
- ↑ Watson, B. (Ed. & Trans.). (2003). Mozi: Basic writings. Columbia University Press.
- ↑ Williams, B. (1981). Moral Luck: Philosophical Papers 1973-1980. Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ MacIntyre, A. (1984). After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (2nd ed.). University of Notre Dame Press.
- ↑ Mill, J. S. (1863/2016). Utilitarianism. In Seven masterpieces of philosophy (pp. 329-375). Routledge.
- ↑ Vergara, F. (2011). Bentham and Mill on the 'quality' of Pleasures. Revue d'études Benthamiennes, (9).