Oct
2014
1st Post－Values Discussion
It is very interesting to start AAD250 with the topic “Values”. As for me, values could just be an abstract and intangible concept at first. It is hard to define what the values is and whether is useful for us.
With the considerable reading, I started to regard values as an issue, which related with many factors like culture, instinct, religion and etc. As for the author, he mentioned that although the term values is dismissed as a barbarous jargon, people use it frequently depend on personal evaluations and related beliefs (Lewis, p.5). I agree with the idea and it is totally true because we are notisolated unity in the world but are influenced by the community surrounded. People are good at imitating and learning, so it is anatural process to be effected by features like customs and living habits. However, I can not accept with the idea that author disagree individual human beings are programmed into their values, either by the influence of genes on personality or social pressure (Lewis, p.6). Although it is hard to prove the proposition by statistics and experiment, it can be explained by an obvious example. Comparing the family values between American and Chinese, I heard a story from my American friend, themainstream American family are more likely to be independent. Children will pay themselves for the tuition when they go to college and they will not live with their parents and care for them after they are married .But it happens differently in China. Those people who are not support their parents when they are old are condemned by the society. It can be explained by the different family values and it is hard to explore the reason why there are different situation between two country, but it has been back less than history. And it maybe programmed into values and genes may play vital roles for forming the value.
Reference
Lewis, H. (1990). A Question of Values: Six Ways We Make the Personal Choices That Shape Our Lives. Axios Press.
yutingw@uoregon.edu
October 10, 2014 at 1:44 am (10 years ago)Hi, Sabrina, it is very interesting to read your post. It surprised me that we used the same quote form the reading to prove our point, and I felt the same with you about the idea that the definition of value is so abstract. I also like the way you explain it when you say “we are not isolated unity in the world but are influenced by the community surrounded.” I think the environment we are living would definitely affect our values because people are emotional. Not like a machine, they are programed so they only know what program people tells them. People on the other hand, have more possibilities to change. Just like the example you gave in your post, people from different culture will have different value, and the way they acting is also different. I think it is not a good or bad thing to have such difference because they create diversions for our world. As this world becoming more and more global, more and more people will have similar value, and I believe we are on the right track.
sabrina
October 12, 2014 at 3:32 pm (10 years ago)Thanks for the critical comment Rice. It seems like we are on the same track. I like your comment “people are emotional”, expressing emotions by different values toward the environment. Besides, thinking deeply about whether values are programmed into genes on my original post.It is worth considering the example author mentioned in the reading ” in medieval and modern Japan, personal beliefs about correct behavior commonly lead to ritual suicide and in Tibet a large-scale population chose to live in monasteries before Chinese invasion”. It shows that people in one ethnicity are likely to own same values.Even if it is still hard to explain the influence of genes on values, but we can easily see the similar values reflecting on one race. It is a shining point that your mentioned the global value. However, I think the global value will not be similar with each other but varied because of the cultural world. The broader people see in the world, more valuable quality and ethical principle they will possess.