A Summary of Mackie’s “The Subjectivity of Values”

I've posted a summary of J.L. Mackie's article "The Subjectivity of Values" in Philosophy Notes at Scholardarity.

Here's an excerpt:

In his essay “The Subjectivity of Values”, J.L. Mackie aims to show that values are not built into the structure of the universe. He begins by clarifying his position, addressing possible reactions and trying to prevent misunderstandings. Some would reject Mackie’s thesis as being morally subversive, others would accept it as a platitude, and still others would say that the question of whether there are objective values is itself illegitimate. Mackie’s thesis applies to all purportedly objective values, not just moral ones. Also, his thesis is a second-order rather than a first-order claim: It states that our values have nothing objective corresponding to them, but one who accepts this claim is not thereby committed to adopt any particular attitude towards private conduct or public policy. One can think that values are ultimately subjective while still valuing things, practices, or states of affairs—or perhaps not valuing much of anything at all—because valuing something does not presuppose that valuing it has an ontological ground.

Philosophy Notes from my Grandfather

I’ve started a new section of Scholardarity in Open Source Study Notes, Philosophy Notes from my Grandfather. It’s a page dedicated to the memory of my late grandfather, who graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Philosophy from USF. I’ve also added its first entry, An Overview of the History of Philosophy: Part 1.

Open Source Study Notes

Open Source Study Notes, a new feature of Scholardarity.com, is opening. Anyone can contribute their study notes, study guides or study aids, and even overviews or introductions. All contributions will be free to read, and no registration is required. Submissions can be about specific courses, books, or articles; but they can also be about broader topics within a discipline. All areas are welcome—however, submissions may be subject to review and/or editing before they appear, and it will be easier for us to evaluate submissions in the humanities because that is the area in which we have the most experience. Also, anyone can suggest additions or changes to contributions through comments or email. At first, only the administrators will be able to actually make changes, but our plan is that in the future anyone can register (for free) to be an editor, and could then be able to make changes themselves.

Contributions should be submitted to jlzarri@scholardarity.com. Files should be an MS Word, an MS Works, or a Rich Text Document—or, if you have exceptionally clear handwriting, you can scan your contribution and send it as an image. Finally, contributors should accompany their submission with a brief description of its contents, along with its number of pages or words.

We look forward to hearing from you!