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Single Idea 20150
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / a. Nature of value
]
Full Idea
A significant feature of our system of values is that it provides many more values than we could pursue. ...We encounter values as possibilities, and we must accept or reject them.
Gist of Idea
There are far more values than we can pursue, so they are optional possibilities
Source
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 03.1)
Book Ref
Kekes,John: 'The Human Condition' [OUP 2010], p.50
A Reaction
This immediately invites the lovely question of what values you are going to invoke when you discriminate among the values available in your culture. Nietzsche says it comes down to 'taste'.
The
27 ideas
from 'The Human Condition'
19738
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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]
|
20146
|
'Luck' is the unpredictable and inexplicable intersection of causal chains
[Kekes]
|
20148
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Equal distribution is no good in a shortage, because there might be no one satisfied
[Kekes]
|
20149
|
To control our actions better, make them result from our attitudes, not from circumstances
[Kekes]
|
20150
|
There are far more values than we can pursue, so they are optional possibilities
[Kekes]
|
20151
|
Our attitudes include what possibilities we value, and also what is allowable, and unthinkable
[Kekes]
|
20152
|
Unconditional commitments are our most basic convictions, saying what must never be done
[Kekes]
|
20153
|
Doing the unthinkable damages ourselves, so it is more basic than any value
[Kekes]
|
20154
|
Control is the key to well-being
[Kekes]
|
20155
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Society is alienating if it lacks our values, and its values repel us
[Kekes]
|
20156
|
We are bound to regret some values we never aspired to
[Kekes]
|
20158
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Innumerable values arise for us, from our humanity, our culture, and our individuality
[Kekes]
|
20157
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Well-being needs correct attitudes and well-ordered commitments to local values
[Kekes]
|
20159
|
Cultural values are interpretations of humanity, conduct, institutions, and evaluations
[Kekes]
|
20161
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The big value problems are evil (humanity), disenchantment (cultures), and boredom (individuals)
[Kekes]
|
20162
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Evil isn't explained by nature, by monsters, by uncharacteristic actions, or by society
[Kekes]
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20164
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The ideal of an ideology is embodied in a text, a role model, a law of history, a dream of the past...
[Kekes]
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20163
|
Ideologies have beliefs about reality, ideals, a gap with actuality, and a program
[Kekes]
|
20165
|
Reason and morality do not coincide; immorality can be reasonable, with an ideology
[Kekes]
|
20169
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An action may be intended under one description, but not under another
[Kekes]
|
20170
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Responsibility is unprovoked foreseeable harm, against society, arising from vicious character
[Kekes]
|
20171
|
Practical reason is not universal and impersonal, because it depends on what success is
[Kekes]
|
20172
|
Boredom destroys our ability to evaluate
[Kekes]
|
20173
|
Boredom is apathy and restlessness, yearning for something interesting
[Kekes]
|
20174
|
Relativists say all values are relative; pluralists concede much of that, but not 'human' values
[Kekes]
|
20175
|
If morality has to be rational, then moral conflicts need us to be irrational and immoral
[Kekes]
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