In our human society, different people play different roles. Our society is progressing, so every people have contribution to our society. If the people have contribution that means the people has value. How to identify people’s value in this society? Like the author said, in this article, “Perhaps we are not driven by immutable instincts. But we might still be controlled by the influence of genes on our underlying personality, or alternatively, by peer pressure, by the relentless demands of the society in which we happen to live.” To identify the value of people is a kind of inborn ability. When people born, people already know what is good and what is bad. The value of People’s viewpoint of value will be influenced by the environment they live. Children always influence by their parents. When I was young, I have a friend who does not like to talk with people. The reason is his parents are devoiced, and his dad doesn’t talk too much. My friend might think that do not talk is right. The value of a person does not stop shaping until people die. People’s value always be influenced by their family, friend, or this society. I think value of people is not a unilateral thing. My question is, if only one person in the world, does this person have value? In this society, people live with each other. In another word, people are exchange value. People work with each other, people know other’s value from their feeling. Sense experience is the first thing that people know other’s value. One person’s value should be discovered by another person’s experience. When there is only one person in the world, the value for this person is not that obvious. I think the expression people’s value is based on other people. Person’s personality and belief is the part of value. Value is like a Lego, it is shaped by a lot of things. When people express their value, other people will evaluate that.
That is such an interesting question, Zheng Fu. If there was only one person in society, would they have value? I suppose it would depend on how she or he came into being…were there parents (or a parent) present as he or she was growing up, as some values would come from them. But if she or he were then alone, how would those values grow into a functional belief system without the outside influences of family, culture, peers, or society? It’s hard to imagine how s/he would learn right or wrong, unless it was in the context of facing a natural element that might be dangerous. Perhaps some values are genetically based, but it’s hard to imagine how someone could build a solid value foundation without love. I believe that love and acceptance can be at the basis for many values. Thanks for posing that. I’ll be thinking about it for some time to come. best to you!
Hi Roka, thank you for your comment. After I finish reading your comment, I realize that the outside environment is very important to a person’s value. There are too many factors that could affect or change a person’s value. I think people should have the ability of self-awareness. All the people know what is wrong and what is right. The first thing what they need to do is find their position in this society. People should learn things base on the role that they play in this world. I agree with you said, love and acceptance can be at the basic for many values. When people born they have been already accepted and loved. These not come from their parents, they also come from other people. The world is a complementary thing. If you want to show your value, you should give love to people first. Then your value is easy to be discovered. Thank you again for your comment.
Very interesting thought. If someone were to be the only person alive, would they have intrinsic value? My answer would be yes, but they would have values different from what we would think. It would depend on the environment they live in because like you said, we are dependent on what we see around us to shape our values and beliefs. But my thinking is that they would have to have some sort of surroundings; one cannot exist without something else to sustain life. The person would learn to care about what was happening around them, and they would have to interact with their environment, and the belief system would be much different than we could even imagine. There would be no morality, no desire for wealth, no meaning to understand except for what was immediately in their surroundings.