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 isnt used simply as a means to some other end and isnt simply preferred above other possible options. Which after reading a paper written by Prof. Fred L.
Wilson from Rochester Institute of Technology, I disagree that there is an intrinsic value at all. Because there has to have some sort of influence that a persons life to alter there reasoning of why the do what they do.
We all determine our values threw personal experiences. Throughout are lives we have the way we do things are constantly testing our values. When we go through the drive threw at a Burger King we may value our health so we order a salad.
But when we here on the radio about a study that meat is good for us we may change our values slightly to order a cheeseburger next time we drive through. We are constantly changing our values as a reflection to the world around us.
Since our values are constantly changing, it changes the way we interact with other people as well, and it changes the way other people interact with ourselves. It is a constant circle that influences other peoples judgments and other people are contently affecting our own.
Reference:
Population reference bureau 2003 found at http://www.
prb.org/
Merriam Webster Dictionary 2003 found at http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary
Ethics, Morals, and Values: How do they relate? Cline, Austin 2003 found at http://atheism.about.
com/library/FAQs/phil/blfaq_phileth_values.htm?terms=ethics%2C+morals%2C+and+values
Wilson, Prof. Fred. L. Science and Human Values 1999 found at http://physicsteacher.org/
