Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-27T08:50:37.028Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Symbolic Values

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2019

RYAN W. DAVIS
RYAN W. DAVIS*
Affiliation:
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITYrwdavis@byu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

When a symbol is a marker of a primary bearer of value and, secondarily, a bearer of value itself, then it has symbolic value. Philosophers have long been suspicious of symbolic values, often regarding them as illusory or irrelevant. I suggest that arguments against symbolic values either overgeneralize or else require premises that can only be supported if the normative significance of some symbolic considerations is presupposed. Humans need symbols to represent identity facts to themselves and others. Symbolic values thereby contribute to individuals’ control over their own agency.

Keywords

symbolsymbolic valueextrinsic valueagencyautonomy
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , Winter 2019 , pp. 449 - 467
Copyright
Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Ancestors to this paper were presented at the Center for Human Values Graduate Fellowship Workshop at Princeton University and at the Northwestern Society for the Theory of Ethics and Politics. For helpful comments and discussion on earlier drafts, I am grateful to Eric Beerbohm, Charles Beitz, Kyla Ebels-Duggan, Jessica Flanigan, Elizabeth Harman, Javier Hidalgo, Peter Jaworski, Stephen Macedo, Quinn Mecham, Kristi Olson, Kelly Patterson, Philip Pettit, and Samuel Scheffler. Thanks also to two referees for their time and very helpful criticisms and suggestions.

References

Abbey, Edward. (1962) Fire on the Mountain. New York: The Dial Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, Gary A. (2013) Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Atran, Scott, Axelrod, Robert, and Davis, Richard. (2007) ‘Sacred Barriers to Conflict Resolution’. Science, 317, 1039–1040.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron, J., Ritov, I., and Greene, J. D.. (2011) ‘The Duty to Support Nationalistic Policies’. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 26, 128–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, Ben. (2006) ‘Two Concepts of Intrinsic Value’. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 9, 111–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, Jason, and Jaworski, Peter. (2015) ‘Markets without Symbolic Limits’. Ethics, 125, 1053–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, Jason, and Jaworski, Peter. (2016) Markets without Limits: Moral Virtues and Commercial Interests. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Burns, Robert. (1897) The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns: The Cambridge Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Carnap, Rudolph. (1959) ‘The Elimination of Metaphysics through Logical Analysis of Language’. In Ayer, A. J. (ed.), Logical Positivism (New York: Macmillan), 60–81.Google Scholar
Coakley, Sarah. (2013) God, Sexuality, and the Self: An Essay ‘On the Trinity.’ Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crossan, John Dominic. (2008) God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now. New York: HarperOne.Google Scholar
Cullity, Garrett. (2004) The Moral Demands of Affluence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cullity, Garrett. (2013) ‘The Context-Undermining of Practical Reasons’. Ethics, 124, 8–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emery, Lydia F., Walsh, Courtney, and Slotter, Erica B.. (2015) ‘Knowing Who You Are and Adding to It: Reduced Self-Concept Clarity Predicts Reduced Self-Expansion’. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6, 259–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazio, Russel H., Effrein, Edwin A., and Falender, Victoria J.. (1981) ‘Self-Perceptions Following Social Interaction’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 232–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuhse, Jan A. (2009) ‘The Meaning and Structure of Social Networks’. Sociological Theory, 27, 51–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geertz, Clifford. (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Gendler, Tamar. (2011) ‘On the Epistemic Costs of Implicit Bias’. Philosophical Studies, 156, 33–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gollwitzer, P. M., and Wicklund, R. A.. (1981) ‘Symbolic Self-Completion, Attempted Influence, and Self-Deprecation’. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 2, 89–114.Google Scholar
Gollwitzer, P. M., and Wicklund, R. A.. (1985) ‘Self-Symbolizing and the Neglect of Others’ Perspectives’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48 702–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatzimoysis, Anthony. (2003) ‘Sentimental Value’. Philosophical Quarterly, 53, 373–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, Jack. (2016) ‘As North Dakota Pipeline is Blocked, Veterans at Standing Rock Cheer’. New York Times, December 5. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/us/veterans-north-dakota-standing-rock.html.Google Scholar
Huemer, Michael. (2013) The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kagan, Shelly. (1998) Normative Ethics. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Kateb, George. (2000) ‘Is Patriotism a Mistake?’ Social Research, 67, 901–24.Google Scholar
Korsgaard, Christine. (1983) ‘Two Distinctions in Goodness’. Philosophical Review, 92, 169–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korsgaard, Christine. (1996) Creating the Kingdom of Ends. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ledgerwood, Allison, Liviatan, Ido, and Carnevale, Peter J.. (2007) ‘Group-Identity Completion and the Symbolic Value of Property’. Psychological Science, 18, 873–78, p. 877.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthes, Erich Hatala. (2013) ‘History, Value, and Irreplaceability’. Ethics, 124, 35–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthes, Erich Hatala. (2015) ‘Impersonal Value, Universal Value, and the Scope of Cultural Heritage’. Ethics, 125, 999–1027.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McConnell, Allen R. (2011) ‘The Multiple Self-Aspects Framework: Self-Concept Representation and Its Implications’. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15, 3–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mele, Christopher. (2016) ‘Veterans to Serve as “Human Shields” for Dakota Pipeline Protestors’. New York Times, November 29.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha. (2013) Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pinker, Steven. (2008) ‘The Moral Instinct’. New York Times Magazine, January 13. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/magazine/13Psychology-t.html?mcubz=1.Google Scholar
Raz, Joseph. (2001) Value, Respect, and Attachment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ronnow-Rassmussen, Toni. (2015) ‘Intrinsic and Extrinsic Value’. In Hirose, Iwao and Olson, Jonas (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Value Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 29–43.Google Scholar
Saiving, Valerie. (1960) ‘The Human Situation: A Feminine View’. The Journal of Religion, 40, 100–12.Google Scholar
Scanlon, T. M. (1998) What We Owe to Each Other. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Scheffler, Samuel. (2010) Equality and Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schmader, Toni, Croft, Alyssa, and Whitehead, Jessica. (2014) ‘Why Can't I Just Be Myself? A Social Cognitive Analysis of the Working Self-Concept Under Stereotype Threat’. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5, 4–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shih, Margaret, Pittinsky, Todd L., and Trahan, Amy. (2006) ‘Domain-Specific Effects of Stereotype on Performance’. Self and Identity, 5, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slotter, E. B., and Gardner, W. L.. (2014) ‘Remind Me Who I Am: Social Interaction Strategies for Maintaining the Threatened Self-Concept’. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 1148–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tessman, Lisa. (2015) Moral Failure: On the Impossible Demands of Morality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tice, Dianne M., and Wallace, Harry M.. (2003) ‘The Reflected Self: Creating Yourself as (You Think) Others See You’. In Leary, Mark R. and Price, June (eds.), Handbook of Self and Identity (New York: Guilford), 91–105.Google Scholar
Velleman, David. (2005) ‘Family History’. Philosophical Papers, 34, 357–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, N. T. (1996) Jesus and the Victory of God. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.Google Scholar
Wright, N. T. (2013) Paul and the Faithfulness of God. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Westlund, Andrea. (2003) ‘Selflessness and Responsibility for the Self: Is Deference Compatible with Autonomy?’ Philosophical Review, 112, 483–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar