Horizons of Value Conceptions Axiological Discourses for the 21st Century

by Koós, Agnes Katalin; Keulman, Kenneth

• ISBN13: 9780761839439
• ISBN10: 0761839437
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-15
• Publisher: UPA

Summary

Horizons is a critical inventory of value-related thinking, demonstrating that the mind has the ability to profile a distinctive circumstance in diverse ways. Readers are first invited to a historical inquiry into typical configurations of values, their collisions, and the worldviews that drive them. They are then introduced to the epistemologies employed by the social sciences, so that they are better able to gauge the potential of these disciplines for coming to terms with values. Axiology is portrayed as a field that has broken free from its neo-Kantian roots, benefiting from challenging new conceptual frames based in documents with global reach-mainly the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.After scrutiny of what various sociological models claim about values and the way in which empirical surveys approach them, Horizons reaffirms the assumption that social life and its dynamics condition the fate of values. Yet, for the sake of more accurate accounts, research should consider to a greater extent social stratification, and pressing macrosocial problems such as environmental protection, sustainable development, and attainment of some form of global equity. Social sciences' limitations modulate their ability to serve as an unequivocal guide for value choices. These limitations are a problem because of the significance of the process of dialogue and deliberation in value-related fields. Rather than advancing the allegedly universal characteristics of any one culture, in a world consisting of many civilizations, the imperative is to acknowledge pluralism and discern what is held in common.

Author Biography

Kenneth Keulman is professor of social ethics at Loyola University, and has recently been a visiting scholar and associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. v
Introduction	p. vii
Values and Their Collisions: Outlines of a Value Typology Based on the Social Motives of Decision Theory	p. 1
Value and Science	p. 35
Value and Its Context: Preliminaries to a Theory of Value	p. 57
Value and Individual	p. 71
Value and Society: The Dynamics of Moral Thinking	p. 93
Claims and Methods of the Main Alternative Social Paradigms Concerning Values	p. 111
Opportunities to Comprehend and Predict the Change of Fundamental Values in a Society	p. 161
Appendices	p. 217
Bibliography	p. 225
Index	p. 243
About the authors	p. 249
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