For this week, Our first reading was, “A Question of Values” by H. Lewis.
This article caught my attention in many ways, as well as it made me think about what values truly are. Within the reading, Lewis describes how we may choose our values. It is explained that one way our values may come about is through our inherited instincts rather than values we freely choose. It is stated, “But do values, in the sense of freely chosen values, truly exist? Are human beings instead driven by the inherited instincts, instincts that we like to dress up within the term values, so that we can pretend there is a measure of choice in the process, when it is really all programmed into our genes?” I disagree with this idea. While values can be very complicated and the meaning/term may be used more loosely, they are still a part of our individuality. I believe that the values of an individual can be shaped and chosen through time and are not a quality that is inherited. Some characteristics may be inherited, which then may alter one’s values. Although this may be true, values are not necessarily something inherited in a directly specific form such as eye color or a gene for height. The inherited characteristics that may influence our values could be, personality traits, social activity, and also the way we mature and develop as individuals. I know there have been many situations in my life from high school to college that have caused me to reflect on my values. These various situations caused me to think about different perspectives, decisions, and what I may consider to be right or wrong. The people we surround ourselves with, as well as the environments we live and work in can all shape, alter, influence, or even change our values.
Throughout the article, I found difficulty with the basic modes in which we form our values. Maybe I have never given it much thought before, but it is difficult to decide how we may arrive at our values. Lewis explains that, “…human beings cannot separate the way they arrive at values from the values themselves.” He continues to elaborate by explaining how our experiences, emotions, logic, authority, and “science” are all mental modes or techniques that help us form our values. By using certain ones over the others, they become more dominant for an individual. An example from Star Wars was explained in the article. The idea of one mode for values was illustrated by the choice of emotion when Luke is told to “trust his instincts”. Lewis then goes on to explain that these characters are fictional and it is not realistic that many people could use one primary mode in order to form values. I agree with this logic. I think that a person must rely on a combination of modes but may choose to emphasize certain ones given the circumstances. This is what makes human values so complicated and complex. This is why a framework for sorting through values and finding a way to focus our values is so essential. I have come to agree with the fact that values are extremely difficult to explain in terms of how they are chosen, and how we use certain values within particular areas of our lives. This is why I think our values depend on a framework that relies on our experience as well as the specific situations we find ourselves in.
I too found your quote “…human beings cannot separate the way they arrive at values from the values themselves” to be very thought provoking. Is it possible for our values today, in comparison to what they were let’s say when we were 10, to also be our instincts? Could our morals be equivalent to our instincts? I believe that they are connected. Our innate instincts are with us from birth, but our new instincts, such as street smarts, are something we learn as we grow up. Also as you said, values are not genetically inherited. Our values make us unique. For example, during a job interview, the interviewer is likely to ask you, “why should we hire you? What makes you stand out from everyone else?” This is such a hard question to answer but most people, including myself, will go to through our professional work experience first. I believe is is always key to mention your values in your response. For instance, I value getting a meaningful experience out of a career, or in other words, I want to feel like I am learning something from what I do, not just coasting through it mindlessly. Being an educated individual is something I value, and some people may differ and value money over that experience. Does this seem like one example of how values are shaped and not inherited? I hope you can see my reasoning behind how this is relatable to the reading.
You make some very interesting points! I guess I never really thought of our morals as an equivalent to our instincts, but I can see where you are coming from. I know that we are born with certain personality traits and characteristics which I then believe can tie into our values and morals as we age. I believe that those things are what help us develop our morals and the way we believe. I do not know that values would be inherited like some instincts we may have, although they can influence one another. Your job interview question made me think a lot about my own values and how I may use those in the same way that you explained. I found that to be an excellent way to describe how those values are what make us all unique. While these things are true, are those values directly inherited or have our environmental influences and other factors contributed to those values? I agree with many examples and points you made, I just find it difficult to decide whether our values are inherited, or whether traits that influence how we feel about certain aspects of life are the components we actually inherit. Lewis explains, “Sense experience, emotion, logic, intuition, authority, logic, and “science” are all mental modes through which we form our values, but by adopting and emphasizing one over the other we also turn them into dominant personal values in their own right.” I am not saying I do not agree with your points about our individuality being portrayed through our values. The difficulty I have is with those values being inherited, or other traits being inherited which then paired with our environment form our values? I hope my comments do not add to the confusion and complication of this topic.