Sacrifice and Value

Reviews / Votes

Professor Axinn's thoughtful discussion of the meaning and importance of sacrifice offers the provocative claim that our willingness to sacrifice produces what has absolute value for us. His wide reading and non-pedantic, conversational style make his ideas about love, loyalty, military ethics and his allusions to a range of philosophers from Protagoras and Kant to contemporary ethicists accessible to any serious reader. -- Arnulf Zweig, editor and translator, Kant's Correspondence and Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals Axinn (emer., Temple Univ.) here examines the concept of sacrifice. He argues that sacrifice establishes ends thought to be good in themselves, rather than the opposed view, which holds sacrificial actions to be derived from certain intrinsically good ends. Though the idea of sacrifice has often remained below the surface of philosophical treatments, Axinn brings it to the forefront by showing that the alignments of his thoughts coincide with those of other philosophers, who range from Aristotle to Virginia Held. Kant, however, is the thinker whose writings on ethics provide the author with more substantial support. Like Kant, the author takes value to be found from the things human beings do; this view counters philosophical realism with "irrealism." This book is a well-written foray into the notion of sacrifice....Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty. * Choice Reviews *