Value Generalization - Limitations and Possibilities of a Communication about Values

Abstract

This contribution is an attempt to demonstrate that the concept of ‘value generalization’ is of consider-able importance for moral philosophy and therefore hopefully also for those interested in business and economic ethics. The importance of this concept lies in its relevance for what one could call ‘the logic of a communication about values’. This logic is different from the structure of rational-argumentative discourse in a strict sense, but also far from a mere clash of values or identities or civilizations or any form of irrationalist decisionism as if ultimate values could only be chosen in an existential way without any reasoning and intersubjective plausibility.