The Sources of Value by Stephen C. Pepper offers a comprehensive exploration of how human beings ground their judgments of good and bad, weaving together insights from psychology, philosophy, anthropology, and biology. Beginning with common-sense notions of value and systematically refining them, Pepper critiques reductive theories while developing an empirical framework that treats value as emerging from purposive behavior, selective systems, and the dynamics of decision-making. His analysis spans from appetition and aversion to cultural patterns, social integration, and biological evolution, resulting in a panoramic study of the ways value operates across individual, social, and natural domains.

Balancing philosophical reflection with empirical findings, Pepper builds on and extends R. B. Perry’s General Theory of Value while bringing in contemporary psychological and behavioral research. The book not only dissects the mechanics of conation, achievement, and affection, but also considers how values are mediated in life-spaces, personalities, and cultural systems, ultimately confronting the challenges of survival value in evolution. Richly integrative and ambitious in scope, The Sources of Value positions itself as both a critical commentary on past theories and a bold hypothesis for understanding the complex interrelations of values in human life.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1958.

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