Page 33 - Contribution To Phenomenology

26 LESTER EMBREE

and "objective" or non-relative and the different values of other groups,
which groups are sometimes "other" chiefly by virtue of those different
values, then seem thoroughly pathological or somehow worse, i.e.,
demonic. The acquired and group-relative status of values can be recog-
nized, especially from without, and upon doing so some people sink into
sceptical relativism, while others pursue the possibility that, while many
values are relative, some important ones may be non-relative. Those still
resisting both naive absolutism and sceptical relativism are concerned
because of the role of values and valuing especially if one strives for
more than knowledge. The volitional positing of purposes and also the
means that serve them is regularly motivated immediately by evaluation
and inasmuch as valuing fairly obviously has foundations in cognition
(provided "cognition" is comprehended to cover not only unjustified but
even unjustifiable believing as well as justifiable and justified believing).
It is only a matter of emphasis. The characteristics of objects as believed
in and also as willed are cultural characteristics equally.
While no serious attempt at a classification will be made here, it is
clear that there are many combinations of cultural practices that are
axiotic. Some pertain to so-called fine art, including not only architecture,
but also dance, film, photography, Uterature of various sorts, painting,
sculpture, and theater, and others are practices culminating in less
allegedly refined enjoyments such as football, basketball, and other sports,
not to speak of lawns and haircuts and haute couture. In such cases, the
first question concerns whether the discipline culminates in something
axiotic, e.g., the pleasure of the audiences at a sports car race or a rock-
and-roll concert, and the second question concerns whether the leading
practitioners in the practice have the degree of preparation and
competency that distinguishes a professional from an amateur and, beyond
that, a discipUne from a craft. Elitist prejudices may also be countered
by recognizing that much fine art is essentially crafty and that sometimes
sport, e.g., when pursued at the Olympic level, seems rather disciplinary.
"Criticism" can take a variety of forms in relation to axiotic practices,
e.g., literary criticism, painting and sculpture criticism, music criticism, and
architectural criticism, but also much of what one reads on the sports
pages in newspapers (or is that parallel to reviewing? And what is the
status of, e.g., film reviewing?). Again there is the question of whether
the preparation of the practitioner is crafty or disciplinary and whether
the whole combination in which such criticism is one of the component
practices culminates in cognition, evaluation, or action. Does literary