I don’t agree with your pessimism. To re-use your example, if you formalize the utility created by freedom and equality, you can compare both and pick the most efficient policies.
Yeah, you can do that if you try. The only problem is that something like “freedom of association is important” itself feels important. The same thing happens with personal importance judgments, like “I care about becoming a published writer” or “being a good Christian matters to me”. They are self-defending.
I don’t agree with your pessimism. To re-use your example, if you formalize the utility created by freedom and equality, you can compare both and pick the most efficient policies.
Yeah, you can do that if you try. The only problem is that something like “freedom of association is important” itself feels important. The same thing happens with personal importance judgments, like “I care about becoming a published writer” or “being a good Christian matters to me”. They are self-defending.
I’m not sure what you mean.