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53 J. Value Inquiry 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/jrnlvi53 and id is 1 raw text is: J Value Inquiry (2019) 53:1-17 CrssMark https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-018-9636-y Scheffler, Tradition and Value Apaar Kumar' Published online: 8 May 2018 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018 1 Introduction In the essay The Normativity of Tradition, Samuel Scheffler provides reasons why people might de facto choose to act on purely traditional grounds. I raise the question of whether these reasons can justify the claim that it is rational de jure to value tradition for its own sake. I argue that Scheffler's de facto reasons must be supplemented if they are to be seen as all-things-considered judgments (or de jure grounds) for valuing tradition for its own sake. Articulating de jure reasons for valuing tradition is one possible way of addressing the question of whether a philosophically defensible theory of moderate cosmopolitanism-which is opposed to both mere traditionalism and extreme versions of cosmopolitanism-could be formulated. Scheffler takes it that, in the last few decades, globalization in economic, political, and technological matters has coincided with a trend toward communal- ism, nationalism, and multiculturalism, and that this circumstance has engendered two different approaches in ethical and political philosophy. Traditionalists think that loyalty to our own nation, tradition, or community is prior to any responsibility we might have to human beings in general, while liberals hold that such loyalties undermine the values of autonomy and equality. In this context, Scheffler aims to develop a framework within liberal theory that can reconcile the values of autonomy and equality with the special claims of historically contingent social ties, ® Apaar Kumar apaarkumar@gmail.com Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities, Dr. T.M.A. Pai Planetarium Complex, Alevoor Road, Manipal, Udupi 576104, India I_ Springer