I’m confused by what the desire satisfactionist means by 'desire'. As your responses to these putative counterexamples show, it can’t be people’s actual desires. But then what is meant by ‘desire’? The desire satisfactionist seems to be using the word ‘desire’ as a placeholder for what would make a person better off if this desire is fulfilled and worse off if it is not. But this tells us nothing about well-being. It is unclear what are the real, relevant desires or the kinds of things that make us better off/worse off.
I’m confused by what the desire satisfactionist means by 'desire'. As your responses to these putative counterexamples show, it can’t be people’s actual desires. But then what is meant by ‘desire’? The desire satisfactionist seems to be using the word ‘desire’ as a placeholder for what would make a person better off if this desire is fulfilled and worse off if it is not. But this tells us nothing about well-being. It is unclear what are the real, relevant desires or the kinds of things that make us better off/worse off.
Which of the responses suggests that people's actual desires aren't relevant?