Felix Kaufmann's Theory and Method in the Social Sciences by Robert S. Cohen & Ingeborg K. Helling

Author:Robert S. Cohen & Ingeborg K. Helling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

4.The Problem of the Relational Character of Value ConceptsWe have already established that value concepts are relational concepts, and that the appearance of the opposite arises only because the reference systems of goals very frequently remain outside the sphere of clear awareness. As the attribution of a (positive or negative) value-predicate to an object on the basis of a constant reference system, only depends on the properties of this object, (apparent) value judgments frequently appear in the following form: An object is valuable when it possesses the features F1, F2, etc. Thus one can declare: ‘The body of an adult human being is beautiful if it approximates certain measurements.’ It will readily be seen on the basis of our previous reflections about the meaning of empirical judgments, on the one hand, and definitions, on the other, that such a statement if not a judgment but a definition, and that it is a question of interpretation, whether it is understood as a nominal definition or a real definition. On most occasions the latter will be the case. But even then one could not say correctly, that a concept of value is defined by that definition, but only that in the definition the ‘objective’ criteria – those attributed to the object – for the recognition of a certain synonymous value predicate (for example, ‘beautiful’), are given. For if the definition is to be consistent with what we ‘essentially’ mean by a value concept, then it is inadequate if it does not define the concept as a relational concept of the kind just characterized.

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