In Value and Context Alan Thomas articulates and defends the view that human beings do possess moral and political knowledge but it is historically and culturally contextual knowledge in ways that, say, mathematical or chemical knowledge is not. In his exposition of "cognitive contextualism" in ethics and politics he makes wide-ranging use of contemporary work in epistemology, moral philosophy, and political theory.

• Introduction


• Part One: Moral Knowledge and Moral Reasons


• 1: The Problem of Moral Knowledge


• 2: The Case for Cognitivism


• 3: Values, Norms and the Practical


• 4: Internal Reasons and Contractualist Impartiality


• Part Two: Norm-Expressivism and Non-Objectivism


• 5: A Critique of Expressivism


• 6: Non-Objectivism and Internal Realism


• Part Three: Contextualist Moral Justification


• 7: Epistemological Contextualism


• 8: A Contextual Model of Moral Justification


• 9: Tradition Based Moral Enquiry


• 10: Moral Belief and the Possibility of Error


• Part Four: Contextualism in Political Philosophy


• 11: Political Liberalism and Contextualism


• 12: Political Liberalism and Civic Republicanism


• Conclusion