I disagree that joy is superior to pain. They’re both necessary parts of life and one without the other is indistinguishable from oblivion. Plenty of people would disagree about alive/animate versus dead/inanimate and in ways that would probably surprise you. I like mountains, I think they’re certainly more interesting and beautiful than pigeons. As for “murder is bad”, plenty of people disagree vehemently about the definition of murder. Is killing to defend someone else murder? What about killing someone during war time? Those aren’t even close to being settled issues and are absolutely matters of belief that are not provable in any scientific sense.

I think the distinction is a useful one to have, because it lets you identify the appropriate way to try to convince somebody. If people disagree about the effectiveness of policies, and which ones will bring about the desired effects, then additional evidence should be found and examined to determine who is correct. On the other hand, if people disagree about what the goal is, then no amount of evidence will convince them, because goals are unobservable.