ABSTRACT
This chapter argues against hedonic compensatory solutions to the paradox. It provides a brief defense of constitutive theory (CT). The chapter concerns how it affects the worth of people's lives. It argues that the value had from painful art often makes lives more worth living, despite sometimes having an adverse affect on welfare. The paradox of painful art is essentially a conflict between audience reports and a default assumption of motivational hedonism. Although the painful emotional responses one feels in response to art are not instrumentally valuable, one might suggest that they are constitutive of other types of value, such as the cognitive value of recognizing humanity's profoundly depressing proclivity to cruelty. Although it may sound strange, it seems that audiences do indeed seek out painful artworks at least in part for the painful experiences they afford. Narratives provide long and varied experiences.
