EDIT: And the conclusion to draw from this is that we can use our axiological intuitions to predict our formal preferences, in certain cases. In some cases, we might even predict perfectly: if you verbalize that you have some very simple preference, such as “I want there to be a brick on this table, and that’s all I want”, then your formal preference is just that.
Human preferences are too big and unwieldy to predict this simply. We each have many many preferences, and they interact with each other in complex ways. But I still claim that we can make educated guesses. As I said, verbalized preferences are the foundation for formal preferences. A foundation does not, in a simple way, determine the building on it. But if you see a 12 foot by 12 foot foundation, you can probably guess that the building on top of it is not going to be the Eiffel Tower.
This is closer. Still, verbalized preference is observation, not the reality of formal preference itself. The goal of preference theory is basically in coming up with a better experimental set-up than moral intuition to study formal preference. This is like moving on from study of physics by making observations of natural phenomena with naked eye, to lab experiments with rulers, clocks, microscopes and so on. Moral intuition, as experienced by humans, is too fuzzy and limited experimental apparatus, even if you use it to observe the outcomes of carefully constructed experiments.
EDIT: And the conclusion to draw from this is that we can use our axiological intuitions to predict our formal preferences, in certain cases. In some cases, we might even predict perfectly: if you verbalize that you have some very simple preference, such as “I want there to be a brick on this table, and that’s all I want”, then your formal preference is just that.
Human preferences are too big and unwieldy to predict this simply. We each have many many preferences, and they interact with each other in complex ways. But I still claim that we can make educated guesses. As I said, verbalized preferences are the foundation for formal preferences. A foundation does not, in a simple way, determine the building on it. But if you see a 12 foot by 12 foot foundation, you can probably guess that the building on top of it is not going to be the Eiffel Tower.
This is closer. Still, verbalized preference is observation, not the reality of formal preference itself. The goal of preference theory is basically in coming up with a better experimental set-up than moral intuition to study formal preference. This is like moving on from study of physics by making observations of natural phenomena with naked eye, to lab experiments with rulers, clocks, microscopes and so on. Moral intuition, as experienced by humans, is too fuzzy and limited experimental apparatus, even if you use it to observe the outcomes of carefully constructed experiments.