The Experience Machine By Robert Nozrick Analysis

In “The Experience Machine,” Robert Nozrick (1974) presents a fascinating argument against hedonism. According to the hedonist, the only intrinsic good thing is pleasure, and the only intrinsic bad thing is pain. Thus, if one does something that doesn’t give them pleasure, or enable them to avoid pain, then the hedonist would argue that it doesn’t seem as though that thing is good for you. Norzick disagrees vehemently with this view. He argues that the good life isn’t solely dependent on the quality of our inner experiences (p. 27). In this paper, I reconstruct and defend Norzick’s argument. Norzick proposes a thought experiment in which he bases his argument on a simple question, namely what else matters to us other than our experiences (p.
[P2] But we shouldn’t plug into the machine because maintaining contact with reality is intrinsically better.
[C] Experiencing as much pleasure as possible is not what matters most to us, therefore hedonism is false. Premise 1 speaks to the hedonist because experiencing, as much pleasure as possible, they would argue, is what matters most to us. Norzick does not really argue for this, making it clear from the beginning that he wouldn’t plug into the machine and he thinks many others wouldn’t either. Instead, he focuses the majority of his argument in Premise 2 and offers three strong reasons why we shouldn’t hook up to the
He doesn’t claim that doing things gives us more pleasure; rather there is something intrinsically good that is beyond pleasure in experiencing a real reality (p. 28). Secondly, that it is intrinsically valuable for us to maintain and develop our characters and become better people (p. 28). Norzick argues that we care about the kinds of people that we are and what kind of virtues we exhibit. Therefore it is prudent that we spend regular time working on our characters and improving our flaws so as to become better than we currently are. The Experience Machine would hinder this because we’d be floating like “indeterminate blobs” (p. 28) in a tank unable to make proper contact with ourselves through reflections and personal check-ins that helps us evaluate and then make moves to bettering ourselves. He justifiably calls this a form of suicide (p.28). Finally, Norzick argues that it is intrinsically good to be in contact with things that transcend realties that are manmade (p. 28). He argues that the Experience Machine would limit us to only manmade realities causing us to miss out on others, namely nature and supernatural realities. While hooked up, one would be limited to only living manmade realities causing them to miss out on those that were here before us, like nature, and those suggested in religions. Norzick concludes that the argument for hedonism is false because it is