The Structure of Values and Norms

Formal representations of values and norms are employed in several academic disciplines and specialties, such as economics, jurisprudence, decision theory, and social choice theory. Hansson has developed a unified formal representation of values and norms that reflects both their static and their dynamic properties. This formalized treatment, carried out in terms of both informal value theory and precise logical detail, will contribute to the clarification of certain issues in the basic philosophical theory of values and norms. – Table of Contents: Preface. Prolegomena:1. Formalization. – Part I. Values: 2. Exclusionary preferences; 3. Preference states; 4. Changes in exclusionary preferences; 5. Constructing combinative preferences; 6. Pairwise combinative preferences; 7. Decision-guiding combinative preferences; 8. Monadic value predicates. – Part II. Norms: 9. A starting point for deontic logic; 10. Situationist deontic logic; 11. Conflicts and counterfactuals; 12. Rules and normative systems; 13. Legal relations. Epilogue: 14. Afterthought.