Valuing Diversity

Abstract

Other things being equal, worlds with greater diversity of subjective experiences are better than worlds with less diversity of experiences. This is the claim of the heteric welfarist. Such a view adds the diversity of experiences to the traditional welfarist concerns of aggregate well-being and the distribution of well-being over persons. The heteric welfarist could endorse the conservation of endangered species and the protection of threatened cultures and ways of life, even at some cost to aggregate well-being or fairness. Heteric welfare could also provide reasons to favor advances in synthetic life or artificial intelligence, to oppose intervention in natural processes to prevent wild animal suffering, and to be more sanguine about Parfitt’s repugnant conclusion. This paper argues that heteric welfarism vindicates plausible intuitions in favor of more diverse worlds and explores some of the implications of this view.