axiology, (from Greek axios, “worthy”; logos, “science”), also called Theory Of Value, the philosophical study of goodness, or value, in the widest sense of these terms. Its significance lies (1) in the considerable expansion that it has given to the meaning of the term value and (2) in the unification that it has provided for the study of a variety of questions—economic, moral, aesthetic, and even logical—that had often been considered in relative isolation.
A value, he theorized, is “any object of any interest.” Later, he explored eight “realms” of value: morality, religion, art, science, economics, politics, law, and custom.
A distinction is commonly made between instrumental and intrinsic value—between what is good as a means and what is good as an end. John Dewey, in Human Nature and Conduct (1922) and Theory of Valuation (1939), presented a pragmatic interpretation and tried to break down this distinction between means and ends, though the latter effort was more likely a way of emphasizing the point that many actual things in human life—such as health, knowledge, and virtue—are good in both senses. Other philosophers, such as C.I. Lewis, Georg Henrik von Wright, and W.K. Frankena, have multiplied the distinctions—differentiating, for example, between instrumental value (being good for some purpose) and technical value (being good at doing something) or between contributory value (being good as part of a whole) and final value (being good as a whole).
Axiology is the philosophical study of value, and its parts include
ethics, aesthetics, and the study of the nature of values
.
Ethics
- The study of moral values, especially the value of human life
- A general theory of value, or axiology
Aesthetics
- The study of aesthetic values, such as the value of a painting
- A domain of axiological theory
Nature of values
- The study of what is valuable, why, and how values are related to individuals, societies, and cultures
- The study of the hierarchy of values
Axiology in research
- The study of the role of values in research
The word axiology comes from the Greek words axios (value) and logos (study).