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Full Idea
Values are ...an 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 help us to control life, by connecting it to what is stable and manageable
Source
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], Intro)
Book Ref
Kekes,John: 'The Human Condition' [OUP 2010], p.4
A Reaction
This sounds more like principles than values, since the former tell you what to do, but a value in itself is just a picture of possibilities.
| 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] |