Emotions are about reality, but emotions are also a part of reality, so we also have emotions about emotions. I can feel happy about some good thing happening in the outside world. And, separately, I can feel happy about being happy.
In the thought experiments about wireheading, people often say that they don’t just want to experience (possibly fake) happy thoughts about X; they also want X to actually happen.
But let’s imagine the converse: what if someone proposed a surgery that would make you unable to ever feel happy about X, even if you knew that X actually happened in the world. People would probably refuse that, too. Intuitively, we want to feel good emotions that we “deserve”, plus there is also the factor of motivation. Okay, so let’s imagine a surgery that removes your ability to feel happy about X, but solves the problem of motivation by e.g. giving you an urge to do X. People would probably refuse that, too.
So I think we actually want both the emotions and the things the emotions are about.
Emotions are about reality, but emotions are also a part of reality, so we also have emotions about emotions. I can feel happy about some good thing happening in the outside world. And, separately, I can feel happy about being happy.
In the thought experiments about wireheading, people often say that they don’t just want to experience (possibly fake) happy thoughts about X; they also want X to actually happen.
But let’s imagine the converse: what if someone proposed a surgery that would make you unable to ever feel happy about X, even if you knew that X actually happened in the world. People would probably refuse that, too. Intuitively, we want to feel good emotions that we “deserve”, plus there is also the factor of motivation. Okay, so let’s imagine a surgery that removes your ability to feel happy about X, but solves the problem of motivation by e.g. giving you an urge to do X. People would probably refuse that, too.
So I think we actually want both the emotions and the things the emotions are about.