I think empirical knowledge has intrinsic value. This is not because I’m a rationalist; I’m not a rationalist in the traditional sense (I don’t think norms of instrumental reasoning are basic). Empirical knowledge has intrinsic value because it’s cumulative. I consider this essentially an issue of identity—i.e., something that is cumulative is valuable. That’s my definition of value. It’s quite easy to show that something that is not cumulative has no value (most people agree that fads and repetitions are inherently without value) and that misattributions of value usually involve the misidentification of an endeavor as cumulative. It’s harder to demonstrate an identity between being cumulative and having value though. There’s also the issue of defining “cumulative” more clearly: collecting stones is cumulative in a sense, we can collect more and more stones, but is obviously not cumulative in the same way that science is. Science makes progress and this progress, I think, must sit apart from any supposed instrumental value—i.e., there’s a sense in which science is not like collecting stones that doesn’t involve reference to what science can do for us (doesn’t make reference to any outside source of value).
As I’ve argued elsewhere, it’s common to misidentify happiness and suffering as cumulative, and to then misattribute value to the alleviation of suffering or the promotion of happiness. This is a basic misconception of what a mental or emotional state is; if you have 100 happy people you can’t say you’ve accumulated a lot of happiness any more than you can say you’ve accumulated a lot of red if you have 100 red balls. What you have is 100 happy people and not 100 times the happiness of a single person. Likewise, a person cannot accumulate happiness over their lifetime; a very happy life doesn’t cause greater happiness at the nth instant than a moderately happy life. Emotional states are not cumulative and cannot (on my account) have value.
This is true of art too. There is, of course, a technological side of art that is cumulative; the development of perspective, of materials and pigments, and the development of photography and optics, these are all good examples in the visual arts. The development of music led to developments in acoustics. Art may be cumulative in small degree: artists avoid copying other artists. This, in fact, is probably what drives creativity in art: niche creation. The artist wants to strike out on his own and find a place for himself in the art world. But I think it’s obvious this isn’t cumulative in the same way science is; it’s more like collecting stones than doing science. I do not, therefore, believe that art has any inherent value. (It may have indirect value by entertaining us, and thus creating an environment in which we can flourish in our cumulative endeavors, and by inspiring us. I think the latter is quite important. I think, for example, that fictive and fantastical and even erroneous concepts can be as important in inspiring us to real world discovery as logical or rational concepts, perhaps more so, and this is one of the reasons I do not consider myself a traditional rationalist.)
I should note that I don’t believe I personally need to be involved in making scientific advances (although I have chosen to be). A person who is convinced of my ideas might take up political advocacy, or wealth creation with the goal of increasing the efficiency of others who are involved in the creation of knowledge, or might become an artist for the reasons I have given, or might just decide to become the best damn barista Starbucks has ever known. Knowledge creation requires an entire functioning, flourishing human society.
I think empirical knowledge has intrinsic value. This is not because I’m a rationalist; I’m not a rationalist in the traditional sense (I don’t think norms of instrumental reasoning are basic). Empirical knowledge has intrinsic value because it’s cumulative. I consider this essentially an issue of identity—i.e., something that is cumulative is valuable. That’s my definition of value. It’s quite easy to show that something that is not cumulative has no value (most people agree that fads and repetitions are inherently without value) and that misattributions of value usually involve the misidentification of an endeavor as cumulative. It’s harder to demonstrate an identity between being cumulative and having value though. There’s also the issue of defining “cumulative” more clearly: collecting stones is cumulative in a sense, we can collect more and more stones, but is obviously not cumulative in the same way that science is. Science makes progress and this progress, I think, must sit apart from any supposed instrumental value—i.e., there’s a sense in which science is not like collecting stones that doesn’t involve reference to what science can do for us (doesn’t make reference to any outside source of value).
As I’ve argued elsewhere, it’s common to misidentify happiness and suffering as cumulative, and to then misattribute value to the alleviation of suffering or the promotion of happiness. This is a basic misconception of what a mental or emotional state is; if you have 100 happy people you can’t say you’ve accumulated a lot of happiness any more than you can say you’ve accumulated a lot of red if you have 100 red balls. What you have is 100 happy people and not 100 times the happiness of a single person. Likewise, a person cannot accumulate happiness over their lifetime; a very happy life doesn’t cause greater happiness at the nth instant than a moderately happy life. Emotional states are not cumulative and cannot (on my account) have value.
This is true of art too. There is, of course, a technological side of art that is cumulative; the development of perspective, of materials and pigments, and the development of photography and optics, these are all good examples in the visual arts. The development of music led to developments in acoustics. Art may be cumulative in small degree: artists avoid copying other artists. This, in fact, is probably what drives creativity in art: niche creation. The artist wants to strike out on his own and find a place for himself in the art world. But I think it’s obvious this isn’t cumulative in the same way science is; it’s more like collecting stones than doing science. I do not, therefore, believe that art has any inherent value. (It may have indirect value by entertaining us, and thus creating an environment in which we can flourish in our cumulative endeavors, and by inspiring us. I think the latter is quite important. I think, for example, that fictive and fantastical and even erroneous concepts can be as important in inspiring us to real world discovery as logical or rational concepts, perhaps more so, and this is one of the reasons I do not consider myself a traditional rationalist.)
I should note that I don’t believe I personally need to be involved in making scientific advances (although I have chosen to be). A person who is convinced of my ideas might take up political advocacy, or wealth creation with the goal of increasing the efficiency of others who are involved in the creation of knowledge, or might become an artist for the reasons I have given, or might just decide to become the best damn barista Starbucks has ever known. Knowledge creation requires an entire functioning, flourishing human society.