Wert und Urteil

<p>Values are omnipresent – in political debates, ethical deliberations and personal decisions. At the same time, the concept of value has come under suspicion: anyone who invokes values risks being accused of moral grandstanding or ideological romanticisation. However, a blanket criticism of values runs the risk of undermining precisely the sense of direction on which modern societies depend. In response to moral absolutism and normative indifference, Georg Zenkert outlines the fundamentals of a ‘grammar of ethical orientation’. He demonstrates that values are neither mere preferences nor timeless principles. They take shape in practices of judgement, in which self-interpretation, courses of action and goods are weighed up and calibrated in relation to one another. The study culminates in a hermeneutics of values: values must be interpreted and given concrete form in terms of their practical relevance. Value judgements do not offer new certainties, but rather a language in which common ground can be identified and conflicts resolved. They open up discursive spaces and enable an understanding of what is practically significant within the horizon of a shared world.</p>