20158
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Innumerable values arise for us, from our humanity, our culture, and our individuality [Kekes]
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Full Idea:
There is an irreducible plurality of values that follow from the universal requirements of human well-being, from a shared cultural identity, and from individual conceptions of well-being.
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From:
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 05 Intro)
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A reaction:
This strikes me as a very helpful division. It seems reasonably obvious, but I have not encountered it elsewhere. It is an obvious foundation for international negotiations. We can criticise another culture by appealing to human values.
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20161
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The big value problems are evil (humanity), disenchantment (cultures), and boredom (individuals) [Kekes]
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Full Idea:
The major problem for the human dimension of values is the prevalence of evil; for the cultural dimension it is widespread disenchantment; and for the personal dimension it is pervasive boredom.
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From:
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 05.5)
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A reaction:
Boldly simple claims, but quite persuasive. Presumably it is the evil in human beings, rather than natural evil (like earthquakes) that is the problem. Disenchantment must come through alienation from social values. Powerlessness, rather than boredom?
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20151
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Our attitudes include what possibilities we value, and also what is allowable, and unthinkable [Kekes]
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Full Idea:
The beliefs, emotions, motives, and desires that form our attitudes ...include not only what possibilities we value, but also the limits we should not transgress. ...The strongest limit is what I call 'the unthinkable'.
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From:
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 03.2)
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A reaction:
Another chance to link to my favourite idea from Democritus! Ideally we want a theory which shows how a vision of the possibilities immediately points to the limits, and to what is unthinkable.
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20152
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Unconditional commitments are our most basic convictions, saying what must never be done [Kekes]
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Full Idea:
Unconditional commitments are the most basic convictions we have. They tell us what we must not do no matter what, what we regard as outrageous, horrible, beyond the pale, or, in religious language, as sacrilegious.
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From:
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 03.3)
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A reaction:
The Aztecs should have made rather different unconditional commitments from the ones they ended up with. How do you persuade someone to make such an unconditional commitment. Abortion seems to involve huge clashes here.
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20162
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Evil isn't explained by nature, by monsters, by uncharacteristic actions, or by society [Kekes]
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Full Idea:
Four inadequate explanations of human evil attribute it to natural causes, moral monsters, uncharacteristic actions, and corrupting social conditions.
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From:
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 06.3)
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A reaction:
He is addressing the 'secular problem of evil', which arises if you assume that human beings are essentially good, and then look around you. He says evil explains corrupting social conditions, so we can't be circular about it.
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