Date of Award
12-1974
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
John D. Beach
Second Advisor
Thomas E. Davitt
Third Advisor
Beatrice H. Zedler
Fourth Advisor
Robert Ashmore
Abstract
Wilbur Marshall Urban insists throughout his philosophical career that axiology, as a science of values, is not coextensive with ethics. Resting on this premise, he establishes an axiology and a separate ethical system. The writer's main task in this dissertation has been to examine critically Urban's axiology and his ethical system in order to determine the existing relation between these two value-oriented sciences. The conclusions obtained from such an analysis may help toward a better understanding of Urban's axiological system, and may further prove heuristic of principles for clarification of the problems of axiology per se.
The introduction .contains biographical and bibliographical data. In this section the author also explains the meaning of some key-terms indispensable for the comprehension of Urban's axiology. In the second and the third chapters an effort has been made to present Urban's axiology and his ethical system, limiting the critical evaluation in the body of the exposition to the minimum. The critical remarks are appended to the body of each chapter's exposition. In the fourth and the fifth chapters the criticisms are incorporated in the body of the text. Consequently, to avoid repetition, the critical remarks at the end of each of these two chapters has been omitted. The conclusion is an overall critical evaluation of Urban's axiology and its relation to ethics.