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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 Liberal justice ignores desert, which is the essence of justice [Kekes]
23083 Liberal welfare focuses on need rather than desert [Kekes]
23081 Liberal basics are pluralism, freedom, rights, equality, and distributive justice - for autonomy [Kekes]
23082 Liberal distribution cares more about recipients than donors [Kekes]
23084 Are egalitarians too coercive, or not egalitarian enough, or lax over morality? [Kekes]
23085 The key liberal values are explained by the one core value, which is autonomy [Kekes]
23086 Liberals say we are only responsible for fully autonomous actions [Kekes]
23087 Much human evil is not autonomous, so moral responsibility need not be autonomous [Kekes]
23088 Evil is not deviation from the good, any more than good is a deviation from evil [Kekes]
23089 Evil people may not be autonomously aware, if they misjudge the situation [Kekes]
23090 Liberals assume people are naturally free, equal, rational, and morally good [Kekes]
23091 Why do liberals not see a much wider range of values as basic? [Kekes]
23092 Agents have little control over the capacities needed for liberal autonomy [Kekes]
23093 Moral and causal responsibility are not clearly distinct [Kekes]
23094 Ought implies can means moral responsibility needs autonomy [Kekes]
23096 Morality should aim to prevent all evil actions, not just autonomous ones [Kekes]
23095 Why should moral responsibility depend on autonomy, rather than social role or experience? [Kekes]
23097 What matters for morality is the effects of action, not the psychological causes [Kekes]
23099 It is said that if an agent is not autonomous then their evil actions don't reflect on their character [Kekes]
23098 Effects show the existence of moral responsibility, and mental states show the degree [Kekes]
23100 Collective responsibility conflicts with responsibility's requirement of authonomy [Kekes]
23101 Intuitions don't prove things; they just receptivity to interpretations [Kekes]
23102 Liberals are egalitarians, but in varying degrees [Kekes]
23103 Power is meant to be confined to representatives, and subsequent delegation [Kekes]
23105 It is not deplorable that billionaires have more than millionaires [Kekes]
23106 To rectify the undeserved equality, we should give men longer and women shorter lives [Kekes]
23108 Justice combines consistency and desert; treat likes alike, judging likeness by desert [Kekes]
23107 Prosperity is a higher social virtue than justice [Kekes]
23109 The veil of ignorance is only needed because people have bad motivations [Kekes]
23112 Liberals ignore contingency, and think people are good and equal, and institutions cause evil [Kekes]
23113 Sexual morality doesn't require monogamy, but it needs a group of sensible regulations [Kekes]
23114 The chief function of the state is to arbitrate between contending visions of the good life [Kekes]
23116 Citizenship is easier than parenthood [Kekes]
23118 Awareness of others' suffering doesn't create an obligation to help [Kekes]
23117 Love should be partial, and discriminate in favour of its object [Kekes]
23119 Sentimental love distorts its object [Kekes]
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]
20173 Boredom is apathy and restlessness, yearning for something interesting [Kekes]
20172 Boredom destroys our ability to evaluate [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]