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The Small Improvement Argument, Epistemicism, and Incomparability
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ABSTRACT
The Small Improvement Argument (SIA) is the leading argument for
value incomparability. All vagueness-based accounts of the SIA have
hitherto assumed the truth of supervaluationism, but
supervaluationism has some well-known problems. This paper explores
the implications of epistemicism, a leading rival theory. We argue
that if epistemicism is true, then options are comparable in small
improvement cases. Moreover, even if SIAs do not exploit vagueness,
if epistemicism is true, then options cannot be on a par. The
epistemicist account of the SIA has an advantage over leading
existing rival accounts of the SIA because it accounts for higher-
order hard cases.
