Before reading this weeks unit readings, I thought of values as just personal guidelines and even though I am not wrong, there is so much more to the topic. The excerpt that we were required to read this week explained values to be “synonymous with personal evaluations and related beliefs” (Lewis 1990). I believe that this is a good way to think about what values are, since simply values are based on what an individual believes and follows which influence how a person behaves or how they see themselves. An individual will set their values as they grow up; this is also when they are influenced by factors in the person’s surroundings. Some of these factors may include parental upbringing, religion, school, family, and culture. On the other hand, the excerpt introduces and talks about six different mental modes; there are four basic mental modes and two synthetic mental modes. In the excerpt, Lewis explains that the four basic mental modes include sense experience, deductive logic, emotion, and intuition whereas the two synthetic mental modes are authority and ‘science’ (1990). The way I see it, the four mental modes are all internal modes and are how we think, sense, and feel whereas the two synthetic modes are things we learn and encounter as we grow up.

It is believed that the factors within a person’s surroundings will morph an individual’s value(s) by influencing the person’s mental modes. I would agree with the previous statement because a person will develop their values based on how they grow up. For example, someone who grew up with one parent, has one sibling, and is religious will most likely have different values compared to someone who grew up with two parents, five siblings, doesn’t follow a particular religion, and was home-schooled; all because of how they grew up. In conclusion, this is why everyone has their own values because no one grows up the same or has the same childhood.

The author of the excerpt claims that all six modes must be somewhat co-dominant to one another to avoid bias or one sided-values. This is true since all six mental modes together create us, metaphorically speaking. When one mental mode is made dominant over the others, the persons values will be one sided and although it isn’t technically wrong, since there is no such thing as a bad value, their value is will not be “well rounded”. Someone who balances all six mental modes will most likely have values that are well rounded because they take all parts into account when developing or choosing their values.

In the end, everyone has/chooses their own values and is entitled to those values.