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Single Idea 20159
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / a. Nature of value
]
Full Idea
I distinguish four types of cultural values likely to be found in a particular society: interpretations of human values; forms of expression and conduct; institutions and practices within them; and modes of evaluation.
Gist of Idea
Cultural values are interpretations of humanity, conduct, institutions, and evaluations
Source
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 05.2)
Book Ref
Kekes,John: 'The Human Condition' [OUP 2010], p.91
A Reaction
He proceeds to enlarge on these four. This sub-divides the second of his three main areas of value. I like philosophers who do that sort of thing. It gives you the reassuring feeling that you can break a problem down into elements we understand....
Related Idea
Idea 20158
Innumerable values arise for us, from our humanity, our culture, and our individuality [Kekes]
The
65 ideas
from John Kekes
23079
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Liberal justice ignores desert, which is the essence of justice
[Kekes]
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23083
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Liberal welfare focuses on need rather than desert
[Kekes]
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23081
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Liberal basics are pluralism, freedom, rights, equality, and distributive justice - for autonomy
[Kekes]
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23082
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Liberal distribution cares more about recipients than donors
[Kekes]
|
23084
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Are egalitarians too coercive, or not egalitarian enough, or lax over morality?
[Kekes]
|
23085
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The key liberal values are explained by the one core value, which is autonomy
[Kekes]
|
23086
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Liberals say we are only responsible for fully autonomous actions
[Kekes]
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23087
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Much human evil is not autonomous, so moral responsibility need not be autonomous
[Kekes]
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23088
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Evil is not deviation from the good, any more than good is a deviation from evil
[Kekes]
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23089
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Evil people may not be autonomously aware, if they misjudge the situation
[Kekes]
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23090
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Liberals assume people are naturally free, equal, rational, and morally good
[Kekes]
|
23091
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Why do liberals not see a much wider range of values as basic?
[Kekes]
|
23092
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Agents have little control over the capacities needed for liberal autonomy
[Kekes]
|
23093
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Moral and causal responsibility are not clearly distinct
[Kekes]
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23094
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Ought implies can means moral responsibility needs autonomy
[Kekes]
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23096
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Morality should aim to prevent all evil actions, not just autonomous ones
[Kekes]
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23095
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Why should moral responsibility depend on autonomy, rather than social role or experience?
[Kekes]
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23097
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What matters for morality is the effects of action, not the psychological causes
[Kekes]
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23098
|
Effects show the existence of moral responsibility, and mental states show the degree
[Kekes]
|
23099
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It is said that if an agent is not autonomous then their evil actions don't reflect on their character
[Kekes]
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23100
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Collective responsibility conflicts with responsibility's requirement of authonomy
[Kekes]
|
23101
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Intuitions don't prove things; they just receptivity to interpretations
[Kekes]
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23102
|
Liberals are egalitarians, but in varying degrees
[Kekes]
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23103
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Power is meant to be confined to representatives, and subsequent delegation
[Kekes]
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23105
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It is not deplorable that billionaires have more than millionaires
[Kekes]
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23106
|
To rectify the undeserved equality, we should give men longer and women shorter lives
[Kekes]
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23108
|
Justice combines consistency and desert; treat likes alike, judging likeness by desert
[Kekes]
|
23107
|
Prosperity is a higher social virtue than justice
[Kekes]
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23109
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The veil of ignorance is only needed because people have bad motivations
[Kekes]
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23112
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Liberals ignore contingency, and think people are good and equal, and institutions cause evil
[Kekes]
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23113
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Sexual morality doesn't require monogamy, but it needs a group of sensible regulations
[Kekes]
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23114
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The chief function of the state is to arbitrate between contending visions of the good life
[Kekes]
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23118
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Awareness of others' suffering doesn't create an obligation to help
[Kekes]
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23116
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Citizenship is easier than parenthood
[Kekes]
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23117
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Love should be partial, and discriminate in favour of its object
[Kekes]
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23119
|
Sentimental love distorts its object
[Kekes]
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23120
|
The problem is basic insufficiency of resources, not their inequality
[Kekes]
|
23121
|
It is just a fact that some people are morally better than others
[Kekes]
|
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]
|
20146
|
'Luck' is the unpredictable and inexplicable intersection of causal chains
[Kekes]
|
20148
|
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
|
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
|
Innumerable values arise for us, from our humanity, our culture, and our individuality
[Kekes]
|
20157
|
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
|
The big value problems are evil (humanity), disenchantment (cultures), and boredom (individuals)
[Kekes]
|
20162
|
Evil isn't explained by nature, by monsters, by uncharacteristic actions, or by society
[Kekes]
|
20164
|
The ideal of an ideology is embodied in a text, a role model, a law of history, a dream of the past...
[Kekes]
|
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
|
An action may be intended under one description, but not under another
[Kekes]
|
20170
|
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]
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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]
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20175
|
If morality has to be rational, then moral conflicts need us to be irrational and immoral
[Kekes]
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