Value theory, or axiology, looks at what things are good or bad, how good or bad they are, and, most fundamentally, what it is for a thing to be good or bad. Questions about value and about what is valuable are important to moral philosophers, since most moral theories hold that we ought to promote the good (even if this is not the only thing we ought to do). This Handbook focuses on value theory as it pertains to ethics, broadly construed, and provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary debates pertaining not only to philosophy but also to other disciplines - most notably, political theory and economics.

The Handbook's twenty-two newly commissioned chapters are divided into three parts. Part I: Foundations concerns fundamental and interrelated issues about the nature of value and distinctions between kinds of value. Part II: Structure concerns formal properties of value that bear on the possibilities of measuring and comparing value. Part III: Extensions, finally, considers specific topics, ranging from health to freedom, where questions of value figure prominently.

Iwao Hirose's profile page

Jonas Olson's profile page

Iwao Hirose is Associate Professor at the Philosophy Department and the School of Environment, McGill University. He is the author of Moral Aggregation (OUP, 2015), Egalitarianism (2015), and The Ethics of Health Care Rationing (with Greg Bognar, 2014). He is also editor of Weighing and Reasoning: Themes from the Philosophy of John Broome (with Andrew Reisner, OUP, 2015).

Jonas Olson is Professor of Practical Philosophy at Stockholm University. He works mainly on value theory, metaethics, and the history of moral philosophy. He is the author of Moral Error Therory: History, Critique, Defence (OUP, 2014).

"This handbook collects a nice assortment of papers on value theory, ranging from papers about highly abstract structural features of axiology to applied topics. It is, we think, a helpful addition to the literature. Many of the papers are excellent. Some provide useful summaries of debates...The volume will, we are sure, be useful for teaching the debates, especially at the graduate level...It is well worth reading for both seasoned axiologists and graduate students working in ethics, and it provides a terrific sampling of the state of the art."

--Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Online

"After a clear introduction by the editors, the book includes twenty-two new essays divided into three groups. All of the essays are of high quality. Some are more accessible than others, but each essay was well-written and contributes to the overall excellence of the volume...it is a helpful resource to have on the shelf...Many students and instructors would do well to study the essays in this section to clarify their conceptions and inform their arguments regarding values."

--Philosophia Christi