Ebook: Value theory

"What is it for a car, a piece of art or a person to be good, bad or better than another? In this first book-length introduction to value theory, Francesco Orsi explores the nature of evaluative concepts used in everyday thinking and speech and in contemporary philosophical discourse. The various dimensions, structures and connections that value concepts express are interrogated with clarity and incision. Orsi provides a systematic survey of both classic texts including Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Moore and Ross and an array of contemporary theorists. The reader is guided through the moral maze of value theory with everyday examples, thought experiments and suggestions for exercises. Rare stamps, Napoleon's hat, words of filth, and Kant's good will are all considered in order to probe our intuitions, question our own and philosopher's assumptions about value, and, ultimately, understand better what we want to say when we talk about value"--;FC; Half title; Bloomsbury Ethics; Title; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgements; Preface; 1 Value and Normativity; 1.1 Introduction; 1.2 Which evaluations?; 1.3 The idea of value theory; 1.4 Value and normativity; 1.5 Overview; 1.6 Meta-ethical neutrality; 1.7 Value theory: The questions; 2 Meet the Values: Intrinsic, Final & Co.; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 Final and unconditional value: Some philosophical examples; 2.3 Intrinsic value and final value; 2.4 The reduction to facts; 2.5 Intrinsic and conditional value; 2.6 Elimination of extrinsic value?; 2.7 Summary.