The Problem of Value Pluralism: Isaiah Berlin and Beyond

Value pluralism is the idea, most prominently endorsed by Isaiah Berlin, that fundamental human values are universal, plural, conflicting, and incommensurable with one another. Incommensurability is the key component of pluralism, undermining familiar monist philosophies such as utilitarianism. But if values are incommensurable, how do we decide between them when they conflict?

George Crowder assesses a range of responses to this problem proposed by Berlin and developed by his successors. Th...