Axiological Analysis

Abstract

Axiology or the general theory of value, although becoming a separate philosophic study only recently, has been a prime problem for as long as philosophy, as a field of inquiry, has existed. As soon as the term 'ought' is used in any inquiry there is sure to be a value judgment back of it. As soon as any decision is made between two divergent courses of action a value judgment is presupposed. Even the simple act of choosing a type of cigarette from a group of brands demands a value judgment. Therefore, we can see the problem concerning the nature of value and value judgments is basic to any understanding of man's experience and actions. The name valuation has a fairly short history, going back only to Karl Marx and his contemporaries. Marx had a conception of determination by relative value and philosophy appropriated this recognition and formulated the axiological problem from it. Yet this problem was at the center of Plato's work. It was the problem his teacher, Socrates, had to solve for his own satisfaction. During the reign of scholasticism it was answered by dogma and only after ethics reappeared that it differentiated itself from the wealth of theological knowledge that is contained in the "Summa Theologia." Kant had to deal with the problem in his two critiques of practical reason and judgment, but refused to take a firm stand on any real aspect of the problem because he assigned it a place in the noumenal world -- it thereupon became untouchable. But since Kant the problem has again come to the forefront. Mill dealt with a system of values in his form of hedonism and Nietzsche provided one of the greatest springs to a full inquiry in his 'transvaluation of values'. [From Introduction]