In chapter 10 of Unto Others (1998) they present a case against hedonism and egoism based on evolutionary considerations. (3) Finally, it should be noted that although critical of Butler’s argument, Sober and Wilson do not subscribe to psychological hedonism or egoism. (2) In a subsequent paper Sober has himself raised the question whether or not Butler may have had a different thesis as his target: “Did Butler fail to refute hedonism in the stone argument because he wasn’t even trying to do so?” (Sober 2000, p. 297) for the reason that “defenders of psychological egoism inevitably invoke the ultimate desire to attain pleasure and avoid pain to save egoism from refutation.” For brevity’s sake, I shall also limit my discussion to psychological hedonism. A similar tactic is used in Sober and Wilson ( 1998, p.
Three things before proceeding: (1) Sober ( 1992) limits his discussion to psychological hedonism, which says that every ultimate desire is a desire to obtain pleasure or avoid pain.
