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Full Idea
Our system of values should be understood, among other things, as our attempt to cope with contingencies by making the connection between our well-being and actions less contingent and more within our control.
Gist of Idea
Values are an attempt to achieve well-being by bringing contingencies under control
Source
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], Intro)
Book Ref
Kekes,John: 'The Human Condition' [OUP 2010], p.4
A Reaction
He gives an account in which every aspect of morality focuses on human well-being. Of course, the values will dictate what constitutes that well-being, as well as good means of attaining it.
| 21380 | The only aim of our existence is to grasp that non-existence would be better [Schopenhauer] |
| 9261 | The 'Ethics' is disappointing, because it fails to try to justify our duties [Prichard] |
| 19628 | At a civilisation's peak values are all that matters, and people unconsciously live by them [Cioran] |
| 22444 | A moral system must deal with the dangers and benefits of life [Foot] |
| 8059 | The good life for man is the life spent seeking the good life for man [MacIntyre] |
| 6850 | Wittgenstein pared his life down in his search for decency [Monk] |
| 19738 | Values are an attempt to achieve well-being by bringing contingencies under control [Kekes] |
| 20145 | Values help us to control life, by connecting it to what is stable and manageable [Kekes] |