Resisting Comparisons of Comparable Items

Abstract

Sacred values might seem ethically problematic. After all, sacred values are treated as inviolable (tradeoffs with ordinary values are forbidden), incontestable (even contemplating such tradeoffs is prohibited), and dialectically invulnerable (no rational considerations can disrupt the agent’s commitment to the value). So, can maintaining sacred values ever be justifiable? This chapter argues that it can be reasonable to maintain sacred values. Moreover, in certain cases, treating a goal, activity, or relationship as possessing ordinary rather than sacred value constitutes a moral failure: the refusal to adopt sacred values involves a pernicious form of devaluation, in which the agent fails to be appropriately moved by important values.