Two kinds of holism about values

Philosophical Quarterly 57 (228):456–463 (2007)
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Abstract

I compare two kinds of holism about values: G.E. Moore's 'organic unities', and Jonathan Dancy's 'value holism'. I propose a simple formal model for representing evaluations of parts and wholes. I then define two conditions, additivism and invariabilism, which together imply a third, atomism. Since atomism is absurd, we must reject one of the former two conditions. This is where Moore and Dancy part company: whereas Moore rejects additivism, Dancy rejects invariabilism. I argue that Moore's view is more plausible. Invariabilism ought to be retained because (a) it eliminates the needless multiplication of values inherent in variable evaluations, and (b) it preserves a certain necessary connection between values and reasons, which Dancy himself endorses

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Campbell Brown
London School of Economics

Citations of this work

The Sum of Well-Being.Jacob M. Nebel - 2023 - Mind 132 (528):1074–1104.
Value theory.Mark Schroeder - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Ethics Without Numbers.Jacob M. Nebel - forthcoming - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
A Defense of Organic Unities.Noah Lemos - 2015 - The Journal of Ethics 19 (2):125-141.
Brown and Moore's value invariabilism vs Dancy's variabilism.Guy Fletcher - 2010 - Philosophical Quarterly 60 (238):162-168.

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References found in this work

Nonlinear social welfare functions.John C. Harsanyi - 1975 - Theory and Decision 6 (3):311-332.
How to be a Moorean.Donald H. Regan - 2003 - Ethics 113 (3):651-677.

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