Values and Intentions

Professor Findlay in this book originally published in 1961 set out to justify and to some extent carry out a âmaterial value-ethicâ ie. A systematic setting forth of the ends of rational action. The book is in the tradition of Moore Rashfall Ross Scheler and Hartmann though it avoids altogether dogmatic intuitive methods. It argues that an organised framework of ends of action follows from the attitude underlying our moral pronouncements and that this framework while allowing personal elaboration is not a matter for individual decision. The relations connecting our fundamental value-judgements with one another and the frames of mind behind them are not rigorously deductive but are sufficiently compelling to be called logical. Something of a âtranscendental deductionâ of a well-ordered family for our basic heads of valuation is both possible and necessary. The work is further critical of the notion of obligation which has been extended far beyond legal contracts and understandings. The book also contains a chapter on religion. . Language: English