After reading the assigned article, I would like to discuss the topic of whether “Values, in the sense of freely chosen values, truly exist? Or are human beings instead driven by inherited instincts that we like to dress up with 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?”

Values can be freely chosen in a sense, but are not always. I do believe that an individual can come to a point in their life where they decide to value something that they did not necessarily value before or when growing up. As people age and mature, their perceptions and views on life can vary and change as they feel it necessary to do so. For example, someone might grow up in a dysfunctional family where values such as how to treat another human being are misunderstood and misused, resulting in bad behavior by that individual. But say that individual has a friend that has a perfect family, giving that individual a sense of comfort and love and demonstrating strong family virtues and values. That individual then might decide that he or she values that comfortable and loving feeling that families are suppose to provide more than before when those values were not being demonstrated by the dysfunctional parents.

I do also believe that we as human beings also inherent instincts and morals that we like to blanket with the term “values” because we are influenced as babies in every way, shape or form. Whether its through media, personal observations, people you are surrounded by, or even your family, we are always being influenced by something. I strongly believe that an individual’s parenting techniques or how that individual was raised plays a huge role in how we determine what we actually value. So I do feel that we sometimes pretend that there is a measure of choice in the process of choosing values, when it really is programmed maybe into our head as young little kids. For example, when I was younger, my Dad’s most important value was trust. He hammered the importance of trust amongst our family in order to maintain a sustainable and healthy family lifestyle and that is something that I still hold of very high value today because thats how I was raised.

In the end I think the term “values” can have several meanings depending on how you look at it and is treated differently on a case by case basis. Having different perceptions of values is what makes us individuals unique.