Counterexamples to the Transitivity of Better Than

Ethicists and economists commonly assume that if A is all things considered better than B, and B is all things considered better than C, then A is all things considered better than C. Call this principle Transitivity. Although it has great conceptual, intuitive, and empirical appeal, I will argue against it. Some philosophers believe that the concept of better than implies Transitivity, so Transitivity must be true. 1 But this is no more compelling, without further argument, than saying that the concept of time implies absolute simultaneity, and so absolute simultaneity must be true. Our persistent, forceful belief in Transitivity goes with the idea that value is like a line. If the value of outcomes or states of affairs can be represented as points along a line, then better than seems transitive because to the right of seems transitive. However, the linear view of value is not sacrosanct. Twentieth century physics has questioned Kant's analogous idea that time is like a line. Our only empirical evidence for Transitivity is inductive: we have frequently observed that some A is better than some B which is better than some C which is worse than A. However, even if all known instances conform to Transitivity, some unusual cases may violate it. Larry S. Temkin explains how three types of ethical principle, which cannot be dismissed a priori, threaten Transitivity: (a) principles implying that in some cases different factors are relevant to comparing A to C than to comparing A to B or B to C; (b) principles of limited scope; (c) principles implying that morally relevant differences in degree can