These are not particularly fashionable theses, and taken as a whole they go somewhat against the grain of quite a lot of recent work in the metaphysics of value. Further, against the received view, Oddie argues that we can have knowledge of values by experiential acquaintance, that there are experiences of value which can be both veridical and appropriately responsive to the values themselves. Finally, these value-experiences are not the products of some exotic and implausible faculty of 'intuition'. Rather, they are perfectly mundane and familiar mental states - namely, desires. This view explains how values can be 'intrinsically motivating', without falling foul of the widely accepted 'queerness' objection. There are, of course, other objections to each of the realist's claims. In showing how and why these objections fail, Oddie introduces a wealth of interesting and original insights about issues of wider interest - including the nature of properties, reduction, supervenience, and causation. The result is a novel and interesting account which illuminates what would otherwise be deeply puzzling features of value and desire and the connections between them.
What is the nature of value and how can we have knowledge of it? Is something valuable because we desire it or do we desire it because it is valuable? These are the fundamental questions addressed and answered in this book. Graham Oddie argues that there are mind-independent irreducible facts about value, which are causally efficacious, and that we have knowledge of value by experiential acquaintance. Anyone working in ethics and metaphysics will find Value, Reality, and Desire a highly original and rewarding contribution.
What is the nature of value and how can we have knowledge of it? Is something valuable because we desire it or do we desire it because it is valuable? These are the fundamental questions addressed and answered in this book. Graham Oddie argues that there are mind-independent irreducible facts about value, which are causally efficacious, and that we have knowledge of value by experiential acquaintance. Anyone working in ethics and metaphysics will find Value, Reality, and Desire a highly original and rewarding contribution.