Axiological assumptions in Qohelet: a historical–philosophical clarification

Abstract

The article has as its working hypothesis the proposal that the Book of Ecclesiastes has axiology as its main concern. All interest in reality, knowledge and morality can be interpreted as being subsumed under the primary obsession, which is value (and the lack thereof). In support of this theory the article ventures a brief descriptive philosophical elucidation of Qoheleth’s folk-axiological assumptions by way of a clarification of his ideas about goodness against the backdrop of various categories in value theory. The study concludes with the suggestion that perhaps the central claim of the book should also be understood as an axiological rather than as an epistemological or existential claim. Qoheleth’s problem is not meaninglessness or incomprehension but worthlessness.