Shafer-Landau Response Paper

Russ Shafer-Landau finds issue with the desire satisfaction theory of welfare because it appears to lead to hedonism, which is a different theory of welfare (Shafer-Landau, 54). To examine this issue, I will first try to clearly and thoroughly formulate Russ Shafer-Landau’s objection to desire satisfaction theory. Next, I will attempt to give a coherent response to Shafer-Landau’s objection by attempting to show that it only pertains to uniformed desires. Then, I will object to my own response on behalf of Russ Shafer-Landau, arguing that my response might still result in hedonism. Finally, I will explain why I disagree with these objections to desire satisfaction theory. In this paper, I will argue that Russ Shafer-Landau’s objection to desire …show more content…
The formulation of desire satisfaction theory that Shafer-Landau objects to states that the satisfaction of informed, self-regarding desires is good for us (Shafer-Landau, 53). Shafer-Landau’s objection to this theory attempts to show that the satisfaction of an informed, self-regarding desire can result in misery (Shafer-Landau, 54). In these cases, desire satisfaction theory states that the satisfaction of these desires is good for us, even in the face of the resulting misery (Shafer-Landau, 54). This does not seem correct. Shafer-Landau does not say that this is fatal to desire theory, but that this unintuitive result is “difficult to accept” (Shafer-Landau, 54). He says that the desire satisfaction theorist can try to account for this unwanted result by making the theory state that the satisfaction of informed, self-regarding desires is only good for us when we are pleased with the result (Shafer-Landau, 54). By doing this, the desire satisfaction theorist makes pleasure the driving force of welfare, which makes desire satisfaction theory look like a form of hedonism (Shafer-Landau, 54-55). If desire satisfaction theory results in hedonism, it fails as a theory of its