This book attempts to open up a path towards a phenomenological theory of values (more technically, a phenomenological axiology). By drawing on everyday experience, and dissociating the notion of value from that of tradition, it shows how emotional sensibility can be integrated to practical reason. This project was prompted by the persuasion that the fragility of democracy, and the current public irrelevance of the ideal principles which support it, largely depend on the inability of modern philosophy to overcome the well-entrenched skepticism about the power of practical reason. The book begins with a phenomenology of cynical consciousness, continues with a survey of still influential theories of value rooted in 20th century philosophy, and finally offers an outline of a bottom-up axiology that revives the anti-skeptical legacy of phenomenology, without ignoring the standards set by contemporary metaethics.

Table of Contents (downloadable)

I. Introduction

1. Axiology in the Pandemic p. 1 – 2. Towards a Phenomenological Axiology p. 5 –
2. Reasons for Skepticism p. 9 – 4. Discovering What Matters p. 15 – 5. The Fauna of Axiological Skepticism and the Pars Construens p. 21 – References p. 23

 II. Phenomenology of the Cynical Consciousness

1. A Mysterious Metamorphosis p. 27 – 2. What We Have Learned from the Theory of the Banality of Evil p. 32 – 3. Introduction to a Phenomenology of Value Experience p. 37 4. The Erosion of Ideality p. 39 – 5. Civil Apathy as Atrophy of Value Experience in the Public Sphere p. 42 – 6. Public Evil and Common Evil p. 45 – 7. Where Does Public Evil Come From? p. 46 – References p. 49

III. Where Is Socrates?

1. The Disputed Question: What Are Values? p.53 – 2. Socrates’ Retreat and the Two Levels of Axiological Skepticism p. 58 – 3. The Face-to-Face and Belonging: Socrates’ Lesson and Epistemic Values p. 64 – 4. Ethics and the Search for Knowledge. A First Look at the Gift of Bonds p. 72 – 5. The Poisoned Reserve p. 75 – 6. Hopelessness: And the “Code of Silence” of Conscience p. 77 – References p. 84

  IV. The Normative Incarnation of Practical Reason

1. An Injection of Ideality into the Foundations of Politics p. 87 – 2. Public Ethics p. 93 – 3. On the Unity of Values: Hedgehogs and Foxes, or the Long Shadow of Doubt p. 96 –   4. Axiological Skepticism and Cognitivism? The Nature of the Conflict and Pluralism p. 101 – 5. The Embodiment of Practical Reason p. 102 – 6. Construction or Cognition? Between Kant and Rawls, What Is Missing? p.109 – 7. What About Today? Philosophers and Declarations of Rights, First Inquiry p. 116 – 8. Philosophers and Declarations of Rights, Second Inquiry p. 124 – References p. 131

V. Truth Suspended

1. The Rive Gauche, Yesterday and Today p. 137 – 2. A Living Alternative: The Free Spirits and Their Axiological Reasons p. 142 – 3. Truth Suspended, or “The Serious Problem” of John Rawls p. 148 – 4. Updating Socrates: Starting from Experience p. 152 – 5. Truth and Will: Against Arbitrariness and Rationalization p. 157 – 6. On the Sources of Normativity p. 161 – 7. Europe, the Homeland that Renounces Its Roots p. 166 – 8. Martin Heidegger and the Issue of the Black Notebooks p. 171 – 9. The Jewish Uprooter and Heidegger’s Three Key Concepts p. 176 – 10. The Philosopher and the Sophist p. 182 – References p. 187

3. VI. Value: Prolegomena to a Phenomenological Axiology

1. A Look Backward p. 193 – 2. The Principal Argument against the Objectivity of Values: The Fact/Value Dichotomy p. 197 – 3. The Other Side of the Dichotomy p. 202 –
2. Metaethics: Another Way of Resigning from Socratic Research? p. 209 – 5. Unity and Plurality of Values: The Foundations of an Axiology p.214 – 6. What Are Values? The First Thesis: The Difference between Goods and Values, p. 220 – 7. Eidetics as Experimental Phenomenology: The Second Thesis p. 222 – 8. Where Are Values Located? Third and Fourth Theses p. 228 – 9. The Gift of Bonds: Eidetics and Axiology—The Fifth Thesis p. 236 – 10. Axiology and Reasons for Action: Material Ethics p. 241 – 11. The fox’s Last Challenge: Pluralism p. 249 – 12. Final Thoughts p. 256 – References p. 257