What is "axiology"

axiology \axiology\ n. the study of values and value judgments.

n. 1 (context uncountable philosophy English) The study of the origin, nature, functions, types, and interrelations of values; value theory. 2 (context countable English) The particular value theory of a philosopher, school of thought, etc.

n. the study of values and value judgments

Axiology (from Greek , axiā, "value, worth"; and , -logos) is the philosophical study of value. It is either the collective term for ethics and aesthetics—philosophical fields that depend crucially on notions of worth—or the foundation for these fields, and thus similar to value theory and meta-ethics. The term was first used by Paul Lapie, in 1902, and Eduard von Hartmann, in 1908.

Axiology studies mainly two kinds of values: ethics and aesthetics. Ethics investigates the concepts of "right" and "good" in individual and social conduct. Aesthetics studies the concepts of "beauty" and "harmony." Formal axiology, the attempt to lay out principles regarding value with mathematical rigor, is exemplified by Robert S. Hartman's Science of Value.