Moritz von Kalckreuth presents a working paper on ‚The Value Problem and Religious Values – An Inventory‘

In this paper I bring together three different, but somehow connected problems: First of all I will discuss the possibilities and prospects of a philosophy of value (axiology). That philosophical discipline may rely on our experience of meaningfulness in our everyday-life but nevertheless its usual theoretical framework is challenged by different fundamental objections. I shall argue that to be capable of articulating the tension between the historical character of our goods and valuations on one hand and the conceptual relations between values on the other, a general philosophy of value requests a broad perspective including notions of history, society and culture. Second I will discuss the idea of “religious values” and which objects we might have in mind using this concept. Here I will argue that talking about religious or sacred values might bring about the special meaning, which some artefacts, places, rituals etc. might have in religious practice. Third it is to be shown that a philosophical theory of values with a rich conceptual framework (including for example the difference between values themselves and valuable goods, virtues or attitudes) may also be suitable for the cooperation with social and cultural studies or other humanities.