The practice of value /

The major portion of this book is written by Raz (law, Oxford Univ.) and is based on his 2001 Tanner Lectures on Human Values. The original lectures were accompanied by commentaries by Christine Korsgaard, Robert Pippen, and Bernard Williams; these commentaries are also included in this volume, along with a substantial reply by Raz. Some of the ideas in this book have also surfaced in other books by Raz (see, for example, Engaging Reason, 1999). Raz argues that values (and the reasons, rights, virtues, and other normative phenomena that are associated with them) do have social dependence. He explains and elaborates on this thesis in such a way as to acknowledge historical contingency, value diversity, value pluralism, the connection of values to historically changing social conditions, and in fact much of what the relativist wants; however, he is steadfast in strongly distinguishing his account from relativism and reductionism. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. All levels. S. Satris Clemson University