What is Value Theory?

Question

What is Value Theory? And how might answering questions in one area inform the way we think about other areas?

Answer 1

This is a great question, and I will my do my best to give a clear answer.

Value theory is a really broad area of philosophy that covers--as the name suggests--what we value and why. Another word used for "value theory" is axiology; it looks at what is even of value and why it is valued. This general area of philosophy, then, includes most (if not all) other areas: political philosophy, aesthetics, ethics, philosophy of religion, and even epistemology (the study of knowledge). For example, some questions of value theory might be: what is the moral good and why is it considered as "good"? (Consequences? Motivation? Character building?); what is the political end of society and why is that worth pursuing?; what is good art? What do we consider "knowledge" and why?

We can see how the answers to value theory affect answers to other categories as well. If, for example, we value as knowledge only what is "factual," objective, data-drive, and measurable, then we will miss out on an entire history of, say, indigenous knowledge that is not "knowledge" in the usual sense. We miss out on the knowledge of myths and religious narratives.