Abstract

"Pluralism," according to Kekes, "is a theory about the nature of the values whose realization makes lives good". It holds, unsurprisingly enough, that there are a number of these values, and that at least some of them are incommensurable and/or incompatible with each other. Some of these values are moral values--values which are "humanly caused" and which "affect primarily others." Others are nonmoral values--values which are "naturally caused" or which "both the causes and the recipients are primarily ourselves". Thus, a theory of pluralism will be broader than a moral theory, and one of its functions will be to show how moral and nonmoral values interact. The aims of this book include the construction of such a theory; the comparison of pluralism with its principle alternatives, monism and relativism; and the tracing of some of the implications of pluralism. The book is organized around "six theses," each of which is explained and defended in its own chapter.