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1 J. Value Inquiry 1 (1967)

handle is hein.journals/jrnlvi1 and id is 1 raw text is: 1 THE CONCEPT OF VALUE* Leaving aside actual revolutions, no time in history has seen more extensive, more fundamental, and more rapid social changes than the present. It is probably safe to say that Americans currently face a period in which few institutions, beliefs, or values can any longer be taken for granted. All are under strain; all are challenged. Basic transformations of man and society are now underway, and many vital choices of values must be made. (Robin M. Williams, American Society: A Sociological Inter- pretation. Alfred A. Knopf. 1951). It is also generally recognized that in the determination of people's behavior their values play an important role and that the direction in which values change importantly affects the welfare of individuals and of societies. However, empirical investigators do not have available to them a conceptual apparatus suitable even for specifying the values, value systems, or value orientations of particular individuals or societies, at any given time, or changes in these values taking place over a period of time, let alone any theories predicting and explaining such changes, and least of all any understanding of how to assess the desirability or undesirability of any anticipated changes in such values which would enable those in charge of our destiny to take appropriate steps at least to avert disaster if not to lead us to the Great Society. This is a gloomy characterization of the state of the art, but not an uncommon one. In any case, there would seem to be room for a philosophically oriented overview of the entire conceptual area such as I shall present in this paper. My hope is that the following elucidation of the point and the empirical content of the various types of claim we make with the word 'value', will dispose of many of the theoretical difficulties in the way of an empirical investigation not only of the values which people in fact subscribe to but also of the question of their soundness or unsoundness. These advantages, I hope, will be thought sufficient to warrant the effort necessary to clarify fully the dimensions of the concept which I have had to leave vague. It will be asked why I have gone to such trouble to lay bare what we ordinarily mean by the word 'value', instead of introducing a new and precise terminology not burdened with the old ambiguities and confusions. The answer is that it would be premature at this stage. No doubt, eventually the increase in our knowledge of people's values may make it advantageous or even necessary to introduce technical terms departing significantly from the concepts here discussed. However, such new terms have to be introduced and explained by means of the ordinary *Presented at The Conference on Value Inquiry at The University of Akron, April 14-15, 1967

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