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Overview
Philosopher Arthur F. Holmes surveys the historical ways of grounding moral values objectively in the nature of reality, pausing along the way to consider such major landmarks in Western thought as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Ockham, the Reformers, Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche.Holmes is not convinced that we live in a value-free universe, that fact and value are ultimately unrelated, or that we have to create all our own values rather than discovering the good. He explores the fact-value connection in the larger context of metaphysical and theological views. What emerges is a pervasive-and convincing-link between religious and moral beliefs.
Synopsis
Philosopher Arthur F. Holmes surveys the historical ways of grounding moral values objectively in the nature of reality, pausing along the way to consider such major landmarks in Western thought as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Ockham, the Reformers, Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche.
Holmes is not convinced that we live in a value-free universe, that fact and value are ultimately unrelated, or that we have to create all our own values rather than discovering the good. He explores the fact-value connection in the larger context of metaphysical and theological views. What emerges is a pervasive—and convincing—link between religious and moral beliefs.
Themelios
The value of this work lies not only in its accessible treatment of a single issue in ethics—the relation of fact and value—but also in the clear and concise introduction it provides to the history of Western philosophy, especially ethics. Both novice and expert, students of theology as well as students of philosophy, can benefit greatly from this readable study.