For many of us, value may be just a simple word that we can talk it many times a day and never thought about its exact meaning. However, after this week’s reading, the first time I feel this word is so different. In this article, the writer mentions that we can form our values depend on four mental modes and they are sense experience, deductive logic, emotion and intuition. Except these, we also rely on two synthetic mental modes, they are authority and science separately.Even though we rely on a combination of these modes in our lives, our percentage of emphasis on these modes is different. Someone may more emphasize emotion. Other people may more emphasize deductive logic. I agree with this view of the author. In the mean time, I also think that people’s experience in their real life can decide their extent of emphasis on each mental mode. Like me, my major is accounting in our university. Most of the time, when we need to get something, we more rely on our deductive logic and sense experience, and then the emotion or intuition. It seems that these four basic modes and two major synthetic modes are mainly the ways or techniques which we can arrive at our values. But actually, they are not. Like the author said “ Sense experience, emotion, logic, intuition, authority, and “ science” are mental modes or techniques 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.” ( Lewis, p13). So among these modes, we will have a dominant one and this one will color all other value choices. This is very interesting. Values are complex, unpredicted and quarrelsome. They have important influence on our lives. With good and objective personal values, we can live well. Thus sorting these value choices out with a systematic way is no doubt very important.
In the article “A Question of Values”, published in 1990, author Lewis focused on introducing the meaning of VALUE, what the VALUE is and how we choose our VALUES. Four basic and two major synthetic mental modes of “values” are primarily addressed through the article – Sense experience, deductive logic, emotion and intuition are the four basic ways of knowing something, when authority as well as science are considered as the two major modes of valuing something. According to Lewis’ study, the writer Han Yu comes up with his idea that people would rely on the dominant personal values by adopting and focusing one over others. By explaining his viewpoint, Han started by introducing the four basic and two major synthetic mental modes of Lewis. Based on the work of Lewis, Han then continued to share his life experience of being a student major in accounting – he said “my major is accounting in our university. Most of the time, when we need to get something, we more rely on our deductive logic and sense experience, and then the emotion or intuition” (Han, 2014), this well supports his idea of emphasizing the dominant personal values. In addition, it is convinced to have real life examples related to thesis as it retrieves “data” from something familiar and credible. And it is believed that students who major in accounting are welcome to use this mental model of deductive logic and sense experience. As it saying “we will have a dominant one and this one will color all other value choices” (Han), sense experience, emotion, logic, intuition, authority and science are all the tool on the way of developing values, but by adopting and emphasizing one over others there will eventually be the dominant ones ruling primarily.
I really enjoyed the way you panned this out and I agree with you that we all are different in which mental modes we put above the others when forming our values. You explain how we “turn” our mental modes into “dominant personal values” according to Lewis and I agree with this also. You then explained the way that being an accounting major has created an emphasis on the mental modes of deductive logic and sense experience for you. I agree with your statement here because I am going into Family Law and I believe I value emotion and intuition much more. I think your studies and place in life impacts which mental modes you choose to carry out. This is also the reason for there not being a certain set of “correct” values, so to say, and why ethical issues tend to be a challenge. We all have different values and no one is more correct over the other, we just have different ways of thinking and feeling.
Thank you for your comment. I really like it. After reading Lewis’s article, I agree some of his points to some extent. He believes that we can form our values based on four interior mental modes and two synthetic mental modes. These mental modes indeed make sense. Also, I think they are connected with our life experience tightly. Like I major in accounting, this kind of experience cause me get my values based on sense experience and deductive logic. So for most of us, the percentage of emphasis on these mental modes is different, but we must have a dominant one and this one can color our other value choices. I read your article and you mentioned that there is one point about authority that you disagree with the author.I think your views are reasonable. Sometimes we can get something or conclusion from our own experience, but there is also something we can not decide just based on these modes because they accompany with our grownup and has embodied within us. Just like we can not choose the surroundings that we were born. Basically, Lewis’s article promotes me to think about the importance of values. His way of thinking is useful.
This is a really interesting analysis in my opinion. You point out after you reading “A Question of Values”, the meaning of “value” changed so much. I totally agree with you. I used to think value has nothing to do with logic, experience, emotion or intuition which are the four basic concepts of values, but this article does change my opinion on this. You also point out that people usually make one concept of values to become “a dominant one and this one will color all other value choices”(Han 2014). This is a really deep thoughts because it is rarely for people to notice they are actually affected by a single but a strong concept to their behaviors. Why everyone can be so different and sometimes unique when they facing the same situation. It is just because they choose their own value differently and this value is controlled by “logic, experience, emotion or intuition.”
I concur with your statement that values are freely chosen within ourselves and are not a genetic disposition. However, your example about how your values have been greatly influenced and shaped by your mother show that although the values that we choose throughout our lives are strictly up to ourselves, the people and the culture that we are surrounded by have a large stake in the way we choose and view the values that we want to uphold. It’s nice to see that others such as yourself have been greatly influenced by their family, particularly their mothers. As I read this week’s reading, my mother immediately popped in my head when it was discussing whether or not values are chosen freely or not. One specific quote that relates to how your family has influenced your values was “although the term values is often used loosely, it should be synonymous with personal evaluations and related beliefs” (Lewis 7). Related beliefs are stemmed directly from the people that we surround ourselves with. Since our family and our parents in particular establish our core beliefs as children, it’s no wonder that close people in your life such as your mother have influenced your values greatly.