Rediscovering Values: Coming to Terms with Postmodernism

by Hugh Mercer Curtler

Overview

The author's primary purpose in this short book is to clearly define the nature of value and restore it to a central place in discussions of ethical and aesthetic problems. He begins the book with a broad cultural perspective on the issue of postmodernism in general, then takes a closer look at recent attempts to reduce values to evaluation, to deny their objectivity. The central chapter focuses on the question, "What Is Value?" after which Curtler discusses values in the fine arts and literature, concluding with the question of values in education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781315503516
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/16/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Hugh Mercer Curtler

Table of Contents

Introduction; Chapter 1 Inverted Consciousness and the Eclipse of Values; Chapter 2 The Postmodern Challenge; Chapter 3 The Rejection of Values; Chapter 4 What Are Values?; Chapter 5 Values in the Arts; Chapter 6 Greatness in Literature; Chapter 7 Values and the Great Conversation; postscript In Defense of Values;

Editorial Reviews

Curtler (philosophy, Southwest State Univ.) finds philosophical error responsible for many of the world's problems, arguing that because influential thinkers deny that values are objective, they undermine the basis of culture. While postmodernists reduce truth to a struggle for power by competing institutions, insisting that we cannot grasp reality outside of language, Curtler maintains that the mind directly grasps external reality. In this grasp, objective values most definitely are included. Curtler makes an excellent case for his view of values and proves a worthy disciple of Eliseo Vivas, a neglected but outstanding American philosopher of this century who made important contributions to aesthetics. Highly recommended.David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., Ohio

Library Journal

Now that we have rejected the set of values inherited from our imperialist past, Curtler says, we must distil from the common social world a new set that can command our approval regardless of cultural and personal tastes. He mounts an attack on proponents of relativity as any cost and argues for the objectivity of values in ethics, literature, and art. His treatment is accessible to lay readers. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews