What are Values?

[trish]

What are values? Are values distinct from the things we value? There are the things we value, and the value of the things we value; i.e. the value inherent in those things. What are core values? What is a value system? Do people really have divergent value systems?

Most of the people on these forums value pornography. Is pornography a value? Or is there an especially erotic aesthetic in the photographs we find here that speaks to us in particular? Perhaps the value we find in pornography is it’s power to arouse us sexually. Clearly what arouses on person won’t necessarily arouse another. But I think it’s an unusual human being that doesn’t value sexual arousal. It’s a value everyone has but few own up to.

Most people value education. Of course education is not a value. Truth, knowledge and intellectual integrity are the values we seek and we aspire to educate ourselves. Even the few who mock the university education and tout the self-made man, do so because in their estimation it is the self-made man who is the more likely to be knowledgeable, have intellectual integrity and speak the truth.

Most people value life. Of course we still eat living things. We don’t care so much if others get ill and can’t afford the simple medical procedures that would save them. When we say we value life, we’re usually thinking of our own. We still have capital punishment and we still fight wars. Nevertheless most of us will say that we value life in some general sort of way. Even pro-choice feminists and gun toting NRA members who brag about how they’d kill anyone who crosses their threshold uninvited. They just disagree on the details. Is a small colony of a few hundred cells embedded in the uterine wall of a woman an independent life. Is the value of the trespasser’s life equal to that of your own?

It seems to me that almost all human beings have the same values. We value family, truth, wisdom, life, security, joy, freedom etc. Talk of divergent value systems has always mystified me...the questions posed above.

[rodinuk]

You're playing around with the semantics of a term 'value' like a cat playing with a dead mouse.

....and no global generalisation thank you.

[trish]

Of course "semantics" is "meaning" and that's exactly my question, what do the words and phrases "value" and "core value" and "value system" mean to people?

[rodinuk]

ok then....

But I think it’s an unusual human being that doesn’t value sexual arousal. It’s a value everyone has but few own up to.

Sexual arousal is valued unless it's at an inopportune time but a transgender might find the arousal resulting in an unwanted erection of no value whatsoever.

Corporate values can be divergent because they're polarised to that company's interests although they may encompass more altruistic values e.g. charity giving

[trish]

Still we all value arousal. So it's not that our values diverge but rather we disagree on when and how to express and enjoy those values.

I'm not sure what you mean by "corporate values." E.g. Corporate lobbyists say they value fair and free "competition," even though they lobby for advantages and corporate security. But granted that they do value competition, can you name the value of competition. The line often given is that competition enhances, corporate strength, corporate fitness etc. So competition per se is not the value, strength and fitness are. We all value strength and fitness.

[tsadriana]

I value a good life,good friends,nice sexy lingerie ,my new mobile phone heheheh ,good sex with quality men lol,I value a good conversation ...

[rodinuk]

Corporate values are sets of stated values which the workforce must adhere/aspire to and ultimately be measured against.

BP's corporate values:
http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongen...tentId=7072114

[trish]

Sounds like we (adriana and i) have convergent values. What I'm wondering though is whether the new mobile phone or the good conversation are values in and of themselves, or that we value them because they have value. Perhaps a new mobile phone and a good conversation exhibit some overlapping values; both have something to do with communicating, exchanging ideas and stories and relating to people...if we had to come up with a word for the value in doing that, what would the word be?

[trish]

I'm not sure "One Team" is a value, but okay. I'm also a little uneasy about the conjecture that a company can value anything. What we're given is what an internal committee came up with when given the assignment: advertise something about our corporate values. I'd rather focus on the value systems of people.

We're told all the time that as individual people we fall into groups that have conflicting values systems. Do we really? I kinda doubt it.

[tsadriana]

Sounds like we have convergent values. What I'm wondering though is whether the new mobile phone or the good conversation are values in and of themselves, or that we value them because they have value. Perhaps a new mobile phone and a good conversation exhibit some overlapping values; both have something to do with communicating, exchanging ideas and stories and relating to people...if we had to come up with a word for the value in doing that, what would the word be?

Comunication x