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1 results

  • 11 - The Objectivity of Values

  • from II - Later Papers
  • Richard Rorty
  • Edited by W. P. Małecki, Chris Voparil
  • Book:
    On Philosophy and Philosophers
    Published online:
    10 October 2020
    Print publication:
    15 October 2020, pp 172-190

  • Summary

    This paper aims to explain why the question about “the objectivity of values” is a bad one. It begins by investigating its historical roots in Plato and in the philosophy of the seventeeth and eighteenth centuries. It then argues that the question presupposes a distinction between qualities of objects that are “in them” and those that are “in us,” a distinction Rorty suggests is pointless. In light of this stance, it goes on to criticize J. L. Mackie’s famous argument that there are no objective values, the notion of moral principles, and the very idea of moral philosophy.