The Practice of Value

by Joseph Raz

Overview

The Practice of Value explores the nature of value and its relation to the social and historical conditions under which human agents live. At the core of the book are the Tanner Lectures delivered at Berkeley in 2001 by Joseph Raz, who has been one of the leading figures in moral and legal philosophy since the 1970s. Raz argues that values depend importantly on social practices, but that we can make sense of this dependence without falling back on cultural relativism. In response, three eminent philosophers, Christine Korsgaard, Robert Pippin, and Bernard Williams, offer their own distinctive reflections on the connections between value and practice. The book begins with an introduction by Jay Wallace, setting the scene for what follows, and ends with a response from Raz to his commentators. The result is a fascinating debate, accessible to readers throughout and beyond philosophy, about the relations between human values and human life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191532108
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/29/2000
Series:	The Berkeley Tanner Lectures
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	250 KB

About the Author

University of Oxford

University of California, Berkeley

Table of Contents

	List of Contributors	vii
	Introduction	1
	The Practice of Value
	The Thesis	15
	Social Dependence without Relativism	15
	Implications	37
	The Implications of Value Pluralism	37
	Change and Understanding	47
	Comments
	The Dependence of Value on Humanity	63
	The Conditions of Value	86
	Relativism, History, and the Existence of Values	106
	Reply to Commentators
	More on Explaining Value: Replies and Comparisons	121
	Index	157