Q0629
“A value is like a fax machine: it's not much use if…” — Kwame Anthony Appiah (The Ethics of Identity (2005))
Verified English quotation. Primary source: The Ethics of Identity (2005). Theme: ethics.
English
A value is like a fax machine: it's not much use if you're the only one who has one.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to The Ethics of Identity (2005) and files it under Africana Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Kwame Anthony Appiah
Kwame Anthony Appiah (b. 1954) is a British-Ghanaian philosopher who has taught at Princeton, NYU, and elsewhere.
How to read this passage
Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Kwame Anthony Appiah and Simone de Beauvoir), ethics is framed through Africana Philosophy and Existentialism. Some passages define ethics; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through ethics, society, relation.
Concepts in this quote
- Ethics
- Ethics appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat ethics as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
- Society
- Society is the web of institutions, customs, and mutual expectations in which individual freedom takes shape.
- Relation
- Relation appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat relation as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Kwame Anthony Appiah. (n.d.). A value is like a fax machine: it's not much use if you're the only one who has one. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0629
MLA: Kwame Anthony Appiah. “A value is like a fax machine: it's….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0629.
Chicago: Kwame Anthony Appiah. “A value is like a fax machine: it's….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0629.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “A value is like a fax machine: it's…”?
The passage is attributed to Kwame Anthony Appiah, The Ethics of Identity (2005). The archive attributes this English wording to The Ethics of Identity (2005) and files it under Africana Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Kwame Anthony Appiah mean by ethics?
Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Kwame Anthony Appiah and Simone de Beauvoir), ethics is framed through Africana Philosophy and Existentialism. Some passages define ethics; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through ethics, society, relation.