I suspect that the Utilitarian assumption which places happiness and suffering as two ends of the same axis is a mistake. Treating suffering as negative happiness doesn’t feel consistent with my experience as a conscious entity.
Reducing suffering seems good. Increasing happiness seems good. Trading off suffering and happiness as if they are opposites, or even mutually fungible, seems highly questionable.
I suspect that the Utilitarian assumption which places happiness and suffering as two ends of the same axis is a mistake. Treating suffering as negative happiness doesn’t feel consistent with my experience as a conscious entity.
Reducing suffering seems good. Increasing happiness seems good. Trading off suffering and happiness as if they are opposites, or even mutually fungible, seems highly questionable.