Ebook: Introduction to value theory

The principal innovation of this philosophical introduction to value theory is its focus upon values as they are dealt with in everyday-life situations, and have sometimes been studied by sociologists and social psychologists*, rather than upon Value (with a capital V) as has been standard in the philosophical tradition. Its point of departure is, not a philosophical theory about “the nature of value,” but a philosophically informed scrutiny of the workings of the value concept with which we operate in everyday affairs. From here the treatment of values is developed in the light of relevant work in the social sciences, particularly economics. The result is a book suitable as a textbook for upper-class and graduate courses in the theory of value and as supplementary material for both courses in normative ethics in philosophy departments and foundations-oriented courses in economic theory (and also for a course in methodological issues in the social sciences).