L.A. Paul 2026
Transformative Ethics. Preprint series vol. 1. Working paper 2026:11
I argue that we should recognize the importance of value by acquaintance, both as a philosophical concept in its own right and as one with applications to practical reasoning and decision making. My argument centers on how the distinctive epistemic and psychological structure of knowledge-how is reflected in a distinctive capacity to value. After delineating my account of value by acquaintance, I discuss its role in practical reasoning and decision making, connecting it to the reference class problem, the value alignment problem in
machine learning, and decision making, closing with an application to recent debates about transformative experience, testimony, and authenticity. My discussion, in effect, shows how experience can matter for knowing how to value, and why such expertise (or wisdom) can be important.
