VALUES AND HOW WE RELATE
Uploaded by crystallove on May 16, 2004
With the world population today at 6.3 billion (population reference bureau 2003) we all come from different countries that hold different cultures and religions and valuing different ideas and ways of living. The word value comes from middle English, from middle French, from (assumed) vulgar Latin valuta, from feminine of valutus, past participle of Latin valEre to be worth, be strong (Merriam – Webster 2003). In my interpretation meaning that values are ideas and ways of thinking that we feel are of worth and strong to us. Values play an important role in ones life, they govern how we eat, socialize, work and sleep they.
Values are believed to have originated during the cave man times different clans had a developed a certain culture of how to interact with each other what was appropriate and what was not. For example it was not appropriate to take another families meat without there consent.
Throughout time values have been a huge topic among sociologists and philosophers. Many people think that values a necessary for survival that all humans will die without values. Others believe that if you took away all values that humans would live more adventurous lives, never having to worry about what others think. My opinion is that values are necessary for human survival, if we did not hold any values that we would see the end to human existence.
My experience has showed me that values have a relation to ethics and morals as well. Morals are modes of conduct that relate to how we interact with other people. And ethics are a manner of deciding what is good and bad. One of the most important characteristics of more judgments I that they express our values (Cline 2003). According to Cline there are three types of values that humans can have. Preferential values which is described as the expression of preference. Instrumental value which means we only value it as a means to achieve some other end which is, in turn, more important. And intrinsic value that is described as something which has intrinsic value is valued purely for itself- it isn’t used simply as a means to some other end and isn’t simply “preferred” above other possible options. Which after reading a paper written by Prof. Fred L. Wilson from Rochester...