Personal values tend to play a huge role in each individual and is based on one’s underlying personality. I found an article by Lewis, H. A Question of Values: Six Ways we Make the Personal Choices that Shape Our Lives containing content of which I completely agree with. Before this reading, little did I know of the subcategories within personal values such as, the six “Most Basic Ways We Come to ‘Know’ Something” which were emphasized on sense experience, deductive logic, emotion, intuition, authority and “science”. Lewis, H claimed that “these four basic and two major synthesis mental modes not only describe how we approach things in general, they also describe how we develop and choose values” which was basically all I knew about how we made decisions by choosing values.
One life example of when I used sense experience and emotion for decision making was this one time when my entire family made it my decision to come up with a place to eat for dinner, I choose this Thai restaurant and I ended up getting food poisoning. I had sense experience by experiencing the food and coming up with consequences afterward, knowing for sure that I would not want to eat there again. I could just remember the feeling (emotion) I had when I was food poisoned, especially because it was the first time I have ever been food poisoned, it was an unforgettable experience. Moreover, sense experience, deductive logic, emotion, intuition, authority and science all tie in together to developing values.
There was also a section of the article regarding values as genetically inherited. I would say I have to disagree with this because my parents/family members are completely different and at a very low chance would I inherit my parents’ values. Everyone is different and they develop their personal values differently through learning experience or by learning about it in general through articles of research. For example, my parents and I do not have the same religion belief. Theirs is based on what they think is correct to their tradition because they are deeply traditional, and mine is based on what I believe in by logical understanding and science.
Overall, this article has boggled my mind and i’m looking forward to reading more about human values later in this course!
To read this article, click here.
Hello,
First off, I thought you post on values was very well thought out and written. it’s pretty obvious that you are a reflective person, as evidenced by your recalling of a personal memory regarding food poisoning, as well as religion. SImilar to you, I have developed my own set of values that aren’t similar to the ones that my parents have. On page 7, Lewis says “…human beings are not primarily driven by genetically determined instincts but are rather free to make their own choices.” A prime example of a younger generation having different values than their parents is religion. We share a common view on the matter in that I too approach religion with a logical understanding of it, in addition to what science has proven over the years.
Your example of using experience and emotion when it comes to decision making is an excellent one. There is no doubt in my mind that previous experiences, even if it is someone else’s, shape our lives in that we will induce a specific behavior. Another possible example is avoiding a specific road when driving due to a previous problem may have encountered. Our memory can be difficult at times, but ultimately own decisions are absolutely based on our own values that we develop through mental modes.
Hi, Alinadang! I enjoyed reading your response to Lewis’ article. I have the same feeling as yours that I had little ideas about how to subcategories personal values before I read this article. In addition, I find it is really helpful for me to re-examine my values. I feel sorry about your first sense experience, but I do agree our knowledge is gained directly and quickly through our five senses, and the experiences from them are also unforgettable. Regarding values as genetically inherited, I think I partially agree with this point, since me and my family do share some essential values. For instance, we all think highly of the importance of “family” and “health”. I was educated to exercise more to maintain good health since I was a child. At first, I did not like to do exercise everyday. After persist in it, I found the beneficial results it brought to me and I finally made “health” as my personal values. I do agree what you said that” everyone is different and they develop their personal values differently through learning experience.” In one paragraph of the article, the author states that “revelation could be viewed as a special case of sense experience, intuition, emotion, or combination of these ways of gaining moral knowledge” (Lewis,12). Do you agree with this? What is your understanding? Thanks!
Thanks Shiyut for your comment! I feel the same about having to re-examine my personal values after reading Lewis’ article because his view on human values is so precise and it feels like I’m not paying much attention to my values, it just comes naturally. I would also have to agree with your comment about values being genetically inherited. I know what you mean when your family talks about good health, because just by learning from my family about health always persuades me into their belief of the value. Learning about values is how my values develop and my mind and morals just choose each value that suits my personality. My thoughts on the quote you asked me about are entirely related to how I think of human values. Through my understanding, I think emotion, intuition and sense experience is a way of gaining moral knowledge, because after experiencing emotion, intuition or a sense, your brain shifts feelings about whatever value it is, based on your personality. What do you think about the quote, ““revelation could be viewed as a special case of sense experience, intuition, emotion, or combination of these ways of gaining moral knowledge” (Lewis,12)?
Thanks for your response alinadang! Regarding to the quote, “revelation could be viewed as a special case of sense experience, intuition, emotion, or combination of these ways of gaining moral knowledge” (Lewis,12). I think here the author tries to bring us a new mode of developing our values, or in other words, to make his six basic ways of shaping values as perfect as possible. I think one example from the author can best explain the meaning of “revelation”. “Revelation” should be considered as a combination of sense experience, intuition and emotion when gaining moral knowledge. For instance, if the Lord’s coming is not simple a matter of authority, when Jesus comes to Thomas, this event may involve sense experience, intuition and even emotion to Thomas (Lewis.12). However, this just a subcategory of how we can organize our values well. Not everyone can accept this explanation, but everyone should define their personal values carefully no matter what guidelines we are following. I really agree one sentence that the author concludes about his article, “the framework may put too much emphasis on how we arrive at our values. Surely what matter most are the values themselves, not the way we arrive at them”(Lewis,13).
It is interesting to read your reflection on the article “Six Ways we Make the Personal Choices that Shape Our Lives”. The example about the Thai restaurant is a very simple and specific one that explains how emotion and sense experience shape our values. When I recall how I form most of my values, I tend to think about the big values or big life decisions. But when I read this simple story of you, I realize that many of my opinions, views or even stereotypes are actually generated from simple, everyday experience. For example, I have a feeling, or stereotype that people from small towns are nicer than those from big cities. This opinion is commonly spread but some people think it’s nothing but a stereotype. I first heard this view from authority and would like to test it using my own experience. I met some people from small towns and found they are very easy-going and just had a bad time hanging out with few friends from large cities. The experience with that few friends from large cities made me jump to the conclusion that they are not as nice as people from small towns. Now my personal view about people from different places is probably not correct at all, but I do hold that opinion and obtain it from my personal experience.