TY - JOUR
T1 - Intuitions about large number cases
AU - Pummer, Theron Gene
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Is there some large number of very mild hangnail pains, each experienced by a separate person, which would be worse than two years of excruciating torture, experienced by a single person? Many people have the intuition that the answer to this question is No. However, a host of philosophers have argued that, because we have no intuitive grasp of very large numbers, we should not trust such intuitions. I argue that there is decent intuitive support for the No answer, which does not depend on our intuitively grasping or imagining very large numbers.
AB - Is there some large number of very mild hangnail pains, each experienced by a separate person, which would be worse than two years of excruciating torture, experienced by a single person? Many people have the intuition that the answer to this question is No. However, a host of philosophers have argued that, because we have no intuitive grasp of very large numbers, we should not trust such intuitions. I argue that there is decent intuitive support for the No answer, which does not depend on our intuitively grasping or imagining very large numbers.
UR - http://analysis.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/1/37
U2 - 10.1093/analys/ans134
DO - 10.1093/analys/ans134
M3 - Article
SN - 0003-2638
VL - 73
SP - 37
EP - 46
JO - Analysis
JF - Analysis
IS - 1
ER -
