November 04, 2007
Does More Mean Better When it Comes to Values?
Over at Public Reason, Robert Talisse asks:
I’m writing here to try to get some help on the meaning of a comment by Bernard Williams frequently cited approvingly in the value pluralist literature.
In his introduction to Berlin’s *Concepts and Categories*, Williams claims that “if there are many and competing values, then the greater the extent to which a society tends to be single-valued, the more genuine values it neglects or suppresses. More, to this extent, must mean better.”
Maybe I’m just being thick-headed about this, but I don’t see how “more must mean better”...
Posted by Robin Varghese at 11:51 AM | Permalink
Comments
You're right. It's nonsense. There may be more than one value, but that doesn't mean the more the merrier.
Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, fine. Freedom, justice, and equality, fine too.
But when you try to make diversity a value instead of a fact, or multiculturalism a value, you can end up with reverse discrimination, polygamy, and cousin marriage, which I don't value at all.
Posted by: Luke Lea | Nov 5, 2007 7:18:43 PM
Almost a Koan: The Valedictorian at this years CMU commencement said "Learning about Diversity doesn't make us more Diverse." And you need to look at that in context. CMU draws from every continent. What kind of diversity are they talking about? And at what cost do you enforce it?
Posted by: Carlos | Nov 5, 2007 10:59:33 PM
Post a comment