Value (ethics)
Value systems are proscriptive and prescriptive beliefs; they affect the ethical behavior of a person or are the basis of their intentional activities.
What makes an action valuable may in turn depend on the ethical values of the objects it increases, decreases, or alters.
"Equal rights for all", "Excellence deserves admiration", and "People should be treated with respect and dignity" are representatives of values.
It is debated whether some values that are not clearly physiologically determined, such as altruism, are intrinsic, and whether some, such as acquisitiveness, should be classified as vices or virtues.
[6] The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation refers to "social value creation" as a quantifiable objective in public policy and philanthropic decision-making.
Ludwig Wittgenstein was pessimistic about the idea that an elucidation would ever happen regarding the absolute values of actions or objects; "we can speak as much as we want about "life" and "its meaning", and believe that what we say is important.
Schwartz defined 'values' as "conceptions of the desirable that influence the way people select action and evaluate events".
[15][16] A series of experimental studies directed by Scott Atran and Ángel Gómez among combatants on the ISIS front line in Iraq and with ordinary citizens in Western Europe [17] suggest that commitment to sacred values motivate the most "devoted actors" to make the costliest sacrifices, including willingness to fight and die, as well as a readiness to forsake close kin and comrades for those values if necessary.
[19] According to Jonathan Baron and Mark Spranca,[20] protected values arise from norms as described in theories of deontological ethics (the latter often being referred to in context with Immanuel Kant).
Personal values provide an internal reference for what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, desirable and constructive.
Values are one of the factors that generate behavior (besides needs, interests and habits) and influence the choices made by an individual.
[clarification needed] Moral, religious, and personal values, when held rigidly, may also give rise to conflicts that result from a clash between differing world views.
[21] Over time the public expression of personal values that groups of people find important in their day-to-day lives, lay the foundations of law, custom and tradition.
[23] From an ethnocentric perspective, it could be assumed that a same set of values will not reflect equally between two groups of people from two countries.
Norms provide rules for behavior in specific situations, while values identify what should be judged as good or evil.
While norms are standards, patterns, rules and guides of expected behavior, values are abstract concepts of what is important and worthwhile.
Wearing dark clothing and appearing solemn are normative behaviors to manifest respect at a funeral.
This reflects an individual's ability to synthesize and extract aspects valuable to them from the multiple subcultures they belong to.
Within our current global governance architecture, leadership is expressed through the G20, legitimacy through the United Nations, and efficiency through member-driven international organizations.
[29] The expertise provided by international organizations and civil society depends on the incorporation of flexibility in the rules, to preserve the expression of identity in a globalized world.
[30][clarification needed] Nonetheless, in warlike economic competition, differing views may contradict each other, particularly in the field of culture.
Indeed, international law traditionally treats films as property and the content of television programs as a service.
[citation needed] Consequently, cultural interventionist policies can find themselves opposed to the Anglo-Saxon liberal position, causing failures in international negotiations.
[32] American parents are unusual for strongly valuing intellectual ability, especially in a narrow "book learning" sense.
[32] The Kipsigis people of Kenya value children who are not only smart, but who employ that intelligence in a responsible and helpful way, which they call ng'om.
A history of threats, such as natural disasters, high population density, or vulnerability to infectious diseases, is associated with greater tightness.
The so-called regality theory finds that war and other perceived collective dangers have a profound influence on both the psychology of individuals and on the social structure and cultural values.
In this case, the two value systems (one personal and one communal) are externally consistent provided they bear no contradictions or situational exceptions between them.
Also, two parties might disagree as to certain actions are right or wrong, both in theory and in practice, and find themselves in an ideological or physical conflict.
Ethonomics, the discipline of rigorously examining and comparing value systems[citation needed], enables us to understand politics and motivations more fully in order to resolve conflicts.
