Economics Dictionary of Arguments

Home Screenshot Tabelle Begriffe

 
Values: Values are fundamental beliefs that guide behavior, representing principles individuals hold dear, influencing choices and attitudes towards oneself, others, and the world. See also Beliefs, Behavior, Individuals, Community, Norms, Principles, Decisions, Decision-making processes, Decision theory.
_____________
Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Subjectivism on Values - Dictionary of Arguments

Gaus I 109
Values/subjectivism/Gaus: (...) subjectivist theories of value - which equate values with tastes or preferences - have a prominent place in twentieth-century liberal theory. A subjective conception of value was integral to the Austrian school; Carl Menger (1994(1): ch. 3) and his followers such as Ludwig von Mises (1966)(2) explicitly endeavoured to integrate a subjectivist theory of value into economics. Of course in so far as economic liberalism is based on the supposition that the satisfaction of preferences alone determines value, then it too is subjectivist (for a criticism see Sunstein, 1997(3): 15ff). >Cognitivism/Noncognitivism
, >Emotivism.
Subjectivist accounts of value have been defended by philosophers as well as economists (...) (see Gaus 1990(4): Part I).
The upshot of these subjective accounts is that, by relativizing value to the desires, feelings or preferences of the individual agent, they undermine the proposal that the state should devote itself to pursuing the summum bonum. Liberal politics, on this view, cannot be reasonably grounded on pursuit of what is truly valuable, for value is a matter of taste, and our tastes differ.
>Justice/Liberalism, ((s) Cf. >Preference utilitarianism).

1. Menger, Carl (1994) Principles of Economics, trans. James Dingwall and Bert F. Hoselitz. Grove City, PA: Libertarian.
2. Mises, Ludwig von (1966) Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, 3rd edn. Chicago: Contemporary.
3. Sunstein, Cass R. (1997) Free Markets and Social Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. Gaus, Gerald F. (1999) Social Philosophy. Armonk, NY: Sharpe.

Gaus, Gerald F. 2004. „The Diversity of Comprehensive Liberalisms.“ In: Gaus, Gerald F. & Kukathas, Chandran 2004. Handbook of Political Theory. SAGE Publications.

_____________
Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.
Subjectivism
Gaus I
Gerald F. Gaus
Chandran Kukathas
Handbook of Political Theory London 2004


Send Link

Authors A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   Z  


Concepts A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   Z