Overall, I found this excerpt quite interesting, as I do not always choose to think about my own personal values, which will become the basis of my post that follows:
In the excerpt, Lewis writes, “Without clearly focused values, it is probably impossible to lead a purposeful and satisfying life,” suggesting that without awareness of one’s own values, life cannot be meaningful (p. 18). I would have to disagree with this statement because I do not believe conscious awareness of values is necessary to reach fulfillment in life. Whether we know it or not, we all have values that help direct our life choices, but regardless of our awareness of them, or lack thereof, their effects in our lives will still remain. While reading this piece, I did much reflection and could not think of a single time I chose to formulate my values without having been asked. However, I do understand that many people do perform this task, and perhaps on a regular basis, which I do believe to be advantageous.
To support my argument, I have a second line from Lewis’s work that I do agree with: “… most of the argument is over words, not the underlying concepts the words are supposed to represent” (p. 12). Here exists evidence that values may not reside in the conscious portion of the brain. We are able to choose the words we speak, but we may not be able to consciously choose the values underlying those words.
Lewis’s lists of basic and synthetic mental modes of “knowing” things were very thorough, and I enjoyed reading through the paired articulations. Lewis notes that humans formulate values based on a combination of these mental modes and that these mental modes have varying degrees of impact from person to person. I agree that this is true, and that this variance is what results in disagreement and “incessant quarrelsomeness of human values” (p. 3).
Lewis, H. (1990). A Question of Values: Six Ways We Make the Personal Choices That Shape Our Lives. Axios Press.