'Axiology', from the Greek ''axia'' (''αξια'', value, worth), is the study of value or quality. It is often thought to include
ethics and
aesthetics—philosophical fields that depend crucially on notions of value—and sometimes it is held to lay the groundwork for these fields, and thus to be similar to
value theory and
meta-ethics. The term was used in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but in recent decades,
value theory has tended to replace it in discussions of the nature of value or goodness in general.
One area in which research continues to be pursued is so-called ''formal axiology,'' or the attempt to lay out principles regarding value with
mathematical rigor.
The term is also used sometimes in
economics.
A popular work by
Robert M. Pirsig, ''
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,'' introduced the term "axiology" to a general
audience, although not in any technical context.
References
Further reading
★
Axiological Ethics, , J. N., Findlay, Macmillan, 1970, ISBN 0-333-00269-5 100 pages.
★
Value Matters: Studies in Axiology, , Nicholas, Rescher, Ontos Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-937202-67-6 140 pages.
See also
★
Value theory