There are things that play a huge role in a person’s life, determine his worldview, and help him make decisions. What is it - people’s life values Learn how and why you need to draw up your correct value hierarchy from this article.
What is it
Each of us has unique guidelines, thanks to which we understand what is more and what is less important, what is acceptable and what is not. This is a set of beliefs, ideals and principles that we follow when performing a particular action. Using these internal "quality standards" you can determine what is most meaningful in your personal universe.
Sometimes a person establishes these coordinates himself, relying on his experience, and sometimes they are acquired by him from the outside with the easy supply of society and firmly grow into his worldview. If an individual betrays his basic attitudes, he will face intrapersonal conflict which will lead to a state of depression.
Definition of the concept and signs
Life values are a kind of absolute that occupies a primary position in worldview. We are guided by them, setting certain goals for ourselves, and through their prism we evaluate our actions, desires, as well as the behavior of other people. With their help we set priorities.
To become a value guide, an existing phenomenon of reality must receive an emotional response and a rational explanation of its significance for a particular person. Therefore, you cannot impose your coordinate system on another.
In the process of formation and development of personality, values can and will certainly change. In childhood, some things come to the fore, in youth, others, and in adulthood, absolutely opposite ones. A person’s priorities directly depend on the events he experiences and the influence of certain ideas on him. Some situations can turn your mind around, look at your life from a different angle and completely rethink your hierarchy of guidelines.
List of main features of value attitudes
- Significance. They have weight and importance in the eyes of the one who owns them. At all costs, the owner strives to observe and protect them.
- Awareness. As a rule, people are aware of what is important to them. Based on this understanding, they build a certain model of behavior, which they adjust to existing internal norms and rules with the help of self-control and self-discipline.
- Self-sufficiency. Personal guidelines do not need the approval or advice of others.
- Positive character. These beliefs are not perceived by the individual as obligations. They are not burdensome, but evoke only positive emotions.
The role of life values
Each person should clearly understand their internal coordinate system. This understanding will help when solving difficult issues, at the moment when it is necessary to make a choice. Awareness of what is actually primary for you at a given moment in time will allow you to avoid global mistakes and regrets.
The hierarchy of significant attitudes is individual. Based on it, the individual builds his life. Very often you have to choose between two important things; stopping internal torment and doubts is precisely what helps you analyze your own guidelines and priorities. There is no clear, right or wrong answer to the question of what a person's core values should be. It all depends on the attitude of a particular individual.
Components of personality
The formation of value systems is an essential part of the process of socialization and personal development. Under ideal conditions, they should be ordered, structured in the mind, and their owner should clearly understand what is of paramount importance to him at this stage of life. But not everyone knows how to work with their beliefs and prioritize them.
Relationships between people are largely built on the coincidence or divergence of internal guidelines and priorities. The compatibility and similarity of their values strengthens relationships and connections, and divergence becomes the reason conflict situations. New value attitudes are formed under the condition of the individual’s natural involvement in an unfamiliar environment, where his need for something that he had not previously thought about is discovered.
Prerequisites for behavior
Prioritization inner beliefs– this is the main motive that determines people’s actions, lifestyle and direction of activity. Depending on what is important to an individual, he will consciously or unconsciously strive to follow this paradigm and build his desires and plans around it.
Every action of an individual is a reflection of his values. Knowing what a person primarily relies on, you can predict his reaction to any phenomenon and better understand his motivation. We all perceive the world through the prism of already existing paradigms that were formed on the basis of past experience, which is why it can be so difficult to hear and accept the position of another.
How are they formed
The foundation for the formation of value guidelines is laid in childhood. A child, like a sponge, absorbs the results of his interaction with the world, sorts what is happening into “good” and “bad” categories with the help of immediate environment(parents and peers). As an adult, it is much more difficult to change your beliefs, to turn the vector of thinking in a radically new direction. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to personality development in adolescence.
What influences the emergence of certain values:
- The process of education. In the early stages of life, it is the parents who serve as models for the child, thanks to whom he understands how to behave in a particular situation, what is pleasant and what is undesirable. Even interests are formed on the basis of the basis laid by loved ones. Adults demonstrate to children unique patterns of behavior that they consciously and unconsciously rely on in the future.
- Educational institutions. Kindergarten and school play no less important role in a child’s life than the family. By receiving new knowledge and skills from teachers, schoolchildren are already beginning to understand what is more important to them and what is less important.
- Social norms. Having barely felt like a part of society, we are faced with certain frameworks and requirements of behavior into which we agree to fit in so as not to cause condemnation.
- Self-knowledge. Having mastered this tool for personal development, a person discovers unlimited possibilities for self-analysis. They allow you to separate your views from others, to abstract from the obsessive influence of other people’s value coordinates.
What could be life values
Universal. Otherwise they are called cultural. Based on these ideas, society forms concepts about how one should act and how one should not. In the individual’s worldview, they are formed in the process of upbringing in the family.
These include:
- health;
- education;
- social status;
- Love;
- family ties;
- children;
- development;
- self-realization.
Individual. They arise over the course of life. These are not just beliefs that are broadcast by public consciousness, but the personal attitudes of each person.
Key Value Guidelines
I classify them in two directions:
- Material. This includes everything related to a comfortable life, housing, and financial solvency.
- Spiritual. Something that cannot be felt with the help of the senses, but has great weight at the mental level. Family, friends, career, favorite business, education, health, beauty and so on.
However, it is almost impossible to strictly separate one category from another. One way or another, they are closely intertwined and cannot exist in isolation.
What are the personal values in a person’s life: a list of examples
- Activity.
- Serenity.
- Impartiality.
- Gratitude.
- Inspiration.
- Cheerfulness.
- Flexibility.
- Spirituality.
- Entertainment.
- Daydreaming.
- Wisdom.
- Reliability.
- Independence.
- Security.
- Certainty.
- Organized.
- Mindfulness.
- Frankness.
- Openness.
- Devotion.
- Attractiveness.
- Affiliation.
- Proactivity.
- Determination.
- Modesty.
- Stability.
- Courage.
- Hardness.
- Accuracy.
- Moderation.
- Uniqueness.
- Financial independence.
- Thrift.
- Sensuality.
- Generosity.
- Brightness.
- Altruism.
- Heroism.
- Optimism.
- Pragmatism.
- Practicality.
- Professionalism.
- Realism.
- Balance.
- Wealth.
- Hospitality.
- Benevolence.
- Curiosity.
- Consistency.
- Perfection.
- Creation.
- Perseverance.
- Faith.
- Power.
- Imagination.
- Achievement.
- Knowledge.
- Study.
- Pleasure.
- Education.
- Understanding.
- Adventure.
- Trust.
- Abundance.
- Wit.
- Opening.
- Justice.
- Acceptance.
- Development.
- Diversity.
- Sympathy.
- Hard work.
- Pleasure.
- Coolness.
- Hygiene.
- Depth.
- Discipline.
- Self-discipline.
- Friendship.
- Health.
- Comfort.
- Beauty.
- Logics.
- Love.
- Hope.
- Experience.
- Victory.
- Support.
- Peace.
- Benefit.
- Is it true.
- Simplicity.
- Height.
- Self-control.
- Freedom.
- Family.
- Glory.
- Passion.
- Happiness.
- Tradition.
- Energy.
- Synergy.
- Success.
- Purity.
- Humor.
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This is not a complete list of value guidelines existing in the world. Based on it, you can create your own hierarchy by adding other concepts.
Pyramid of Values
A. Maslow’s famous scheme, which describes human needs, can also characterize the system according to which life priorities are built. The foundation of human existence as a whole is its biological component. There are motives that physiology dictates to us: in other words, it is difficult to talk about the eternal when you are hungry, cold or in pain.
The next stage in the formation of priorities is the desire for security. This includes the desire to organize a comfortable space for living.
After this, social needs arise, the need for respect and recognition, the thirst for knowledge and creativity, aesthetic and spiritual values.
Another classification of value guidelines in the table
Value system for men and women
The debate about gender differences is currently very active. But it is difficult to deny the influence of historical and biological factors on the formation of value ideas. According to statistics, the desire, first of all, to build a career, gain high social status and material well-being is characteristic of the male part of humanity. Women's physiology and psychology implies bringing to the fore the desire to realize oneself as a mother and wife.
However, speaking not in general, but in particular, everything that concerns internal beliefs is a purely individual issue.
The importance of human relationships
We are born biosocial beings. This means that the formation of personality without interaction with society is simply impossible. In one form or another, everyone has an orientation towards building communication, friendships and love relationships. It can be expressed in different ways and to varying degrees, but it is determined by nature itself.
Hierarchy of values
Building your own pyramid of priorities helps in situations where you need to make a choice between several ambiguous options. It will also allow you to analyze your behavior and actions and prevent the emergence of internal conflict.
How to determine your life maxims
The most common technique for identifying a personal value-oriented system is the principle of comparative analysis. Start by writing down everything that matters to you. Don't limit yourself: use the list above and add your own items to it. This procedure can take quite a long time - take your time. The most important thing is to paint a picture of your worldview as fully as possible.
After this, rest and switch to another type of activity. Return to the list after a few hours or even days (for the purity of the experiment). Re-read it and choose the 10 most significant points for you, and simply cross out the rest. The next step is to reduce the resulting list by another half.
When the 5 most valuable concepts remain before your eyes, prioritize them. To do this, imagine something you could never give up in favor of something else. As a result, you will receive your own hierarchy of value systems. This is your inner compass.
How to instill life values in the process of education
The first thing you need to understand is that don’t even try to instill in your child certain guidelines if your behavior contradicts your words. The fundamental principle of shaping a child’s personality is personal example. It is the model of adult behavior that a child and then a teenager encounters every day, in practice, that will become entrenched in his subconscious. Therefore, when swearing at children or demanding a certain way of thinking from them, think about whether you yourself are following what you are talking about.
Rethinking
Periodically your internal system coordinates needs adjustment. This need arises, for example, when you are faced with an insoluble internal conflict.
If you are dissatisfied with life, with yourself, or dissatisfied with what is happening around you (spouse, work, environment), you urgently need to understand what led to this, and whether you have forgotten about your inner compass. Or maybe your priorities have simply changed, and you did not leave the previously laid path in time?
Having superficially understood what a person’s fundamental life values are, sign up for my and take a big step towards feeling like a whole, self-sufficient person.
The world of values is diverse and practically inexhaustible, just as the needs and interests of humanity are diverse and inexhaustible, and it is developing progressively. Values are historical; their set and functions are different at different stages of the development of society.
IN modern world One of the first places is occupied by values. But there was a time (primitive society) when science did not even exist and, therefore, Its values did not exist. In the Middle Ages, when the religious worldview dominated, divine revelation and dogma were considered the highest values scripture. Scientific treatises became dangerous for society, and their authors were sometimes even burned at the stake of the Inquisition. All this means that the world of values must always be considered concretely, and not abstractly, and remember the historical boundaries of certain value objects.
The classification of values remains a scientific problem. There is no single approach to solving the issue. It is believed that the most common basis classifications of values are: spheres public life, carriers of values, hierarchy of values. The main spheres of public life usually distinguish three groups of values: material, socio-political and spiritual.
Material values are the value of natural objects and object values, i.e. means of labor and things - direct consumption. Natural values: natural benefits contained in natural resources. Subject values created by man: consumer value of labor products (utility in general), cultural heritage of the past, appears in the form of objects of wealth, contemporaries and objects of religious worship.
Socio-political values are the value meaning of social and political phenomena, events, political acts and actions.
Socio-political values: social good, which exists in socio-political phenomena, and the progressive significance of historical events (revolutions, agreements, treaties, etc.).. The criteria for value value in such cases are public good, political will, brotherhood, peace, etc.
Spiritual (subjective) values are the normative, recommendatory-evaluative side of the phenomena of social consciousness, expressed through appropriate forms, and serve as a normative form of human orientation in social and natural reality. It is known that ideas and views can be real, true and false, but this does not stop them from being values. All ideas in the sphere of values perform some function that regulates certain relationships between people, acting as means and objects of their activities. A special place occupies culture as a value in an integral order. Firstly, because culture combines material, socio-political and spiritual values created by human labor to satisfy their needs. Secondly, because culture is not only a set of created values, but also a way of creating and mastering values, i.e. a way to realize human creative potential in the sphere of material and spiritual activity. In other words, this is not just a sum of objects and values, but also a process of revealing a person’s abilities and gifts, and the formation of appropriate value orientations in him. Culture as a value is everything that contributes to the development of man, his humanity, nobility and creativity, contributes to the growth of his will, increasing power over nature, social relations and himself.
Each generation uses its accumulated experience, masters achievements and moves on to create new values. There are three types of values in culture: values - ideals; values - properties of things revealed as a result of interaction with values - ideals; values - things that have value properties. From the point of view of the bearer (the second aspect of the classification of values), they usually distinguish: individual, group or collective, national and universal human values. Personal or individual value is the valuable significance of an object, phenomenon, or idea for a specific person. Personal values are determined by inclinations, tastes, habits, level of knowledge and others individual characteristics people. Personal values play an important role in the life of an individual, but still they do not determine the value orientation of the individual, because the essence of a person, as is known, lies in the totality of social relations. Group values are the valuable significance of objects, phenomena, ideas for any communities of people (classes, nations, labor, military groups, etc.). Group values are of great importance for the life of a particular group, uniting individuals with unique value orientations.
National and universal values are the value significance of objects, phenomena, ideas for a given society or for the world community. National and universal values usually constitute a value-normative system, which is formed in the process of formation and development of society and reflects the results of the real interaction of ideals and interests of all social strata and groups or the world community. These are, firstly, socio-political and moral principles that are shared by the majority of the population or country, the entire world community. Secondly, socio-political values, universal (national) ideals, a national goal and the main means of achieving it (social justice, human dignity, civic duty, values of material well-being and richness of spiritual life). National and universal values are natural values and values that, by their very essence and significance, are global in nature (problems of peace, disarmament, international economic order, etc.).
The essence of the new thinking is that the priority of universal human values is proclaimed over group values, primarily class ones, because without this there can be no further successful development of all peoples. From the point of view of hierarchies, that is, the arrangement of values according to the role they play in the life of society and man, three groups of values are distinguished. Firstly, values that are of secondary importance for individuals and society. These are the ones without which it is impossible for society to function and for a person to not be disrupted. By analogy with the third group, these values can be named below. Secondly, the values of everyday demand and everyday life. This group includes most material and spiritual values. This is all that is necessary for the normal satisfaction of a person’s material and spiritual needs, without which society cannot function and develop. And thirdly, the highest values. These values crown a complex and multi-tiered system and reflect the fundamental relationships and needs of people.
The existence of higher values is always associated with going beyond privacy individual. Higher values draw attention to the fact that there is nothing higher than the individual himself, what determines his own life, with which his destiny is inextricably linked. That is why the highest values, as a rule, are of a universal human nature. The highest values are part of the material, spiritual and socio-political values that, as a rule, have national and universal significance - peace, the life of humanity, the values of public order, ideas about justice, freedom, the rights and responsibilities of people, friendship, love, trust, family ties, activity values (work, creativity, creation, knowledge of truth), self-preservation values (life, health), self-affirmation and self-realization values, values characterizing the choice of personal qualities: honesty, courage, loyalty, justice, kindness, etc.. Higher socially -political values - patriotism, defense of the Motherland, military duty, military honor and others of a national, traditional nature. Complications of the entire complex of problems solved by society increases the moral value of duty and responsibility. It is no coincidence that responsibility becomes the moral and legal concept that is more often used in everyday life. IN modern conditions The importance of discipline and the importance of personal responsibility increases many times over. The moral value of society and public duty rewards all types of socially useful activities with the same value, first of all, labor activities. Without work, a person not only cannot exist, but also cannot be a person in the fullest and deepest sense. Awareness of the great social role labor, its educational and moral significance is one of the main elements of the moral consciousness of workers. “Without labor there is no good”, “The sun paints the earth, but man’s labor” - say popular proverbs. The destruction of parasites and the exaltation of labor is a constant trend in history. By the degree of greater or lesser respect for work, one can determine the degree of civilization of a people. It is clear that the moral value of work is directly dependent on social significance, the focus on achieving the common good, and on the free and creative nature of work, it elevates the human personality and helps to reveal his inclinations and abilities.
As conditions change, values can move from one type, from one series of significance to others. With the development of society, new values arise and, conversely, other values lose significance or fade into oblivion. Values are closely interrelated and interact with each other not only within a species, but also between species, within groups and between groups. Finally, each type of value, in turn, has many varieties. Spiritual values can be classified according to traditional and non-traditional forms of social consciousness.
Moral values are phenomena of moral culture with the help of which social and individual needs are satisfied in overcoming contradictions between a person’s behavior and the interests of society. Moral values are considered to be those that satisfy the moral needs of subjects and bring them moral satisfaction. Moral values reflect not only the formed reality, but also the needs for more advanced forms of social life. Moral values are a unique expression of ideals, the desire for the implementation of which enhances the practically effective nature of moral orientations. Moral orientations act as a measure of compliance with human actions, relationships, social and moral requirements with the real possibilities of the achieved stage social progress. On the basis of moral values, the normative value orientation of the individual is formed. It also requires how to find and evaluate existing phenomena. Without regular, continuous satisfaction of moral needs, without a relatively constant attraction to moral values, without mastering them, a person’s psyche is disrupted and the nature of his behavior changes. How great the role of moral values is in the life of a person and society is clearly shown by the crisis of morality and the revaluation of its values. In modern conditions, the process of breaking down old ideals and moral principles is underway. The person’s former aspirations and actions lose their justification, and she becomes filled with confusion and uncertainty. A person in crisis experiences a feeling of loss, as if the ground under her feet is disappearing. The loss of moral values is the loss of moral health of a person and society.
Aesthetic values. Aesthetic values are objects and natural phenomena accessible to human knowledge; the person himself (his appearance, actions, actions, behavior); things created by people and created by second nature, products of spiritual activity, works of art. The presence of objects of value depends on what specific system of socio-political relations they are included in, what ideals serve as evaluation criteria. The main types of aesthetic values are beautiful, sublime and their opposites - ugly and low. A special group of aesthetic values consists of the tragic and the comic, which characterize the value means of various dramatic situations in human life and are figuratively modeled in art. Low aesthetic culture, and even more so aesthetic ignorance, can leave a person indifferent to the beauty of nature, its harmony, the beauty and dignity of human activity, to works of literature and art. That is why, in modern conditions, it is necessary to ensure that every person is able to clearly distinguish between the beautiful and the ugly, to enjoy the beautiful, to experience and sympathize with the tragic, to boldly rebel and fight against the ugly in people’s actions, against baseness and bad taste in art, everyday rudeness, etc. .
Values. Despite the fact that religious consciousness distorts reality, religious ideas, dogmas, cult rituals, etc. do not lose their value significance, because they fulfill completely defined ideological, regulatory, communicative and other tasks. Two points are taken into account here. Firstly, religious ideas, dogmas and cult rituals have a positive meaning mainly for people who have formed the corresponding value orientations. In the absence of a positive orientation, values are either rejected or assessed negatively. Secondly, the basis of the value orientations of a religious person is the conviction that their highest expression of values are God acts as created truth, justice, goodness, beauty, etc. The values towards which such a person is oriented only belong to the world and are the result of the divine revelations, but the perception of phenomena as values and orientation towards them supposedly inherent in the person, the human soul as a divine creation. Historically, many religious values are completely rightly considered as the heritage of the culture of human civilization.
Cognitive epistemological values are the value significance of the process and results of human cognitive activity, first of all, knowledge, in all its diversity. The degree of their significance is determined by the degree of adequacy and correctness of reflection in the consciousness of the subject objective reality, as well as the effectiveness of knowledge in the development of social production. The value of all types of reliable knowledge - natural science, technical, social, fundamental and applied in the conditions of the modern scientific and technological revolution tends to grow steadily.
Moral assessment establishes the merits of a person or his guilt. When they talk about merit, they mean the socially useful activities of people; such behavior is most consistent with the interests of society and the requirements of public duty. Merit consists of exceeding the usual, average degree or duty in long-term, impeccable performance: “let's go to a well-deserved rest,” we are talking about pensioners, there is merit - this is the high social value of actions, human life and activity. Merits and dignity are assessed by society, becoming objects of honor and glory in the same way as guilt is assessed, giving rise to dishonor, shame, and punishment. Honor is a good name, a positive moral reputation, a special mechanism of moral regulation. One of the tasks of moral education is precisely to teach a person to value his honor, take care of his good name, and not stain it with unworthy actions. It has long been noted that honor and glory are important stimulants of human activity, sources of greater energy, which can be directed to serving duty, to socially useful causes. In search of public recognition, national glory, a person is capable of doing great and good deeds. But here, in the complex sphere of moral stimulation, compliance with the measure is especially important. A moral person must have a sense of honor, a desire for conquest and the preservation of a good name. Otherwise, the world of moral values will be inaccessible to her. But it is also important what kind of sense of honor a person has, what moral system he is oriented towards, how a person sees his honor and glory, and by what deeds he intends to win them. Another thing is also important: how, to what extent the sense of honor is developed, its share in the moral consciousness of a person, in the motives of his behavior.
The position of man is the highest value, as a rule, applied by humanists as an axiom. And it is indeed an axiom in the sense that humanity has suffered through the idea of the highest value and came to it through the bitter experience of many generations. The value of a person and his life can be considered as an individual synthesis of all other values functioning in society. The value of life is a set of elements of personal orientations. Why is human life the highest value? Firstly, because there are and cannot be values outside of human life. This is the only criterion and condition for the existence of any other value. For an individual, life acts as the highest value, the highest good, regardless of anything else. The value of life is the foundation and pinnacle for all other values. Secondly, depending on the understanding of the value of life, society’s attitude towards a person will be formed. If in relations between people the value of life is considered in an individual aspect, that is, here the significance of life is determined not for the individual himself, but for society. The question of whether a person himself is a value is considered from two sides: What is the value of another person and a person in general for a person? What is the value of a person’s own life? An individual's interest in other people has a content for a person that depends not only on what he himself is.
Each of the highest values:
1) is something that can be experienced in one way or another personal experience(experientiality);
2) is something whose fundamental impracticability cannot be reconciled (necessity);
3) is something to which you can devote your whole life or for which you can give your life (existentiality);
4) can be the main subject of aspirations, all activities (teleological);
5) can be that for the sake of which everything else is, and not that which itself is for the sake of something else (ultimacy);
6) can be the source of all assessments, sets a rating scale within which any phenomenon or behavior can be assessed (normativity);
7) opens and reflects a certain dimension of being and a certain aspect of personality (ontology);
8) can be acquired by any intelligent being, regardless of its individual characteristics or belonging to one or another category (universality);
9) independent of circumstances and retains its significance in all possible worlds (analyticity);
10) sets a picture of the world, and does not follow from a pre-given picture of the world (metaphysical neutrality);
11) cannot get bored or otherwise reveal its limitations (inexhaustibility);
12) is something that can be stopped at, can be projected into eternity (eternity);
13) can be presented as an absolute beyond everyday life or nature (transcendability);
14) is not reducible to other values, is not derived from them (primacy);
15) is a dominant around which one or more historical and ideological traditions or spiritual movements have been formed (cultural and historical significance).
1. Complementary higher values
These values may come into situational conflict with each other, but on the whole they contribute to each other’s implementation and strategically complement each other.
Health
General definition: distance from death.
Semantic field: self-preservation, survival, vigor, energy, longevity.
Opposite: disease.
Extreme points of the scale: eternal youth - death.
Psychological correspondence: joy of being (joie de vivre).
Correspondence in Indian culture: ayus (life, आयु).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: kang nin (bodily and mental well-being, 康寧), shou (longevity, 壽), xian (immortality, 仙).
Historical and ideological correspondence: Taoism.
Control
General definition: the ability to control circumstances exactly as planned.
Semantic field: benefit, benefit, wealth, power, strength, freedom, dominance, power.
The opposite: helplessness.
Extreme points of the scale: absolute power- slavery.
Psychological Compliance: Feeling in control.
Correspondence in Indian culture: artha (benefit, अर्थ).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: fu (wealth, 富), gui (career, 貴), li (profit, 利).
Historical and ideological correspondence: materialism as a way of life.
Social harmony
General definition: mutual agreement with others.
Semantic field: mutual sympathy, mutual understanding, unanimity, conformity, tact, rank, harmony, good fame.
Opposite: disharmony.
Extreme points of the scale: cosmic order - chaos.
Psychological compliance: rapport.
Correspondence in Indian culture: yazas, yaschas (honor, यशस्).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: shu (mutuality, reciprocity, 恕), li (order, 理), li (decency, 礼), da tong (great unity, 大同).
Historical and ideological correspondence: Confucianism.
Freedom from addictions
General definition: overcoming painful dependence on anything.
Semantic field: peace, serenity, detachment, dispassion, freedom from suffering.
The opposite: enslavement and blindness by desires.
Extreme points of the scale: nirvana - unquenchable thirst.
Psychological compliance: calmness.
Correspondence in Indian culture: nirvana (निर्वाण), bodhi (बोधि).
Corresponding in Chinese culture: nepan (涅槃).
Historical and ideological correspondence: Buddhism.
Prosperity of the family
General definition: surrounded by relatives.
Semantic field: reproduction, nepotism, clans, numerous relatives, prosperity of the people, merging with existence.
The opposite: loneliness.
Extreme points of the scale: unity with all that exists - complete alienation.
Psychological conformity: feeling of being part of the whole (participation, oceanic feeling).
Correspondence in Indian culture: moksha (मोक्ष), tat tvam asi (you are, तत्त्वमसि).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: Zi sun zhong (many sons and grandsons, 子孫眾多).
Historical and ideological correspondence: tribal religions (paganism).
Cognition
General definition: the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and not for the sake of anything else.
Semantic field: curiosity, desire for something new, research interest, impartiality, doubt.
The opposite: ignorance.
Extreme points of the scale: absolute truth - delusion.
Psychological compliance: awareness.
Correspondence in Indian culture: jnana (knowledge, ज्ञान), satya (truth, सत्य).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: zhi (knowledge, 知), di (truth, 諦).
Historical and ideological correspondence: skepticism as a way of life.
Pleasure
General definition: any pleasant sensation.
Semantic field: pleasure, contentment, pleasantness, fun, euphoria.
Opposite: dissatisfaction.
Extreme points of the scale: bliss - torment.
Psychological correspondence: pleasure.
Correspondence in Indian culture: kama (passion, काम).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: si (joy, 喜), feng liu (wind and flow, 風流).
Historical and ideological correspondence: hedonism.
Self-realization
General definition: Inspired helping of others.
Semantic field: active love, vocation, favorite thing, diligence, enthusiasm.
The opposite: vegetation.
Extreme points of the scale: eternal inspiration - disgust for everything.
Psychological compliance: flow.
Correspondence in Indian culture: dharma (duty, धर्म).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: ren (philanthropy, 仁), li ai (beneficial love, 利愛).
Historical and ideological correspondence: Christianity.
Dignity
General definition: refusal to grant to the imperfect those rights that only an all-perfect being can have.
Semantic field: inflexibility, inflexibility, steadfastness, monotheism, restlessness.
Opposite: groveling.
Extreme points of the scale: trampling on all idols is idolatry.
Psychological conformity: self-esteem.
Correspondence in Indian culture: isvara-pranidhana (surrender to God, ईश्वरप्रणिधान), nirguna bhakti (devotion beyond images, भक्ति).
Corresponding in Chinese culture: jun zi (noble husband, 君子).
Historical and ideological correspondence: Islam.
Creation
General definition: making anything.
Semantic field: creativity, constructiveness, productivity, creativity, invention, production, construction, collecting.
Opposite: destruction.
Extreme points of the scale: endless creativity - destruction.
Psychological correspondence: creative itch (élan créateur, élan vital).
Correspondence in Indian culture: nirmana (creation, निर्माण).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: zhuangjian (creation, 创建).
Historical and ideological correspondence: creativity.
2. Borderline/mixed higher values
These values may not only come into situational conflict with others, but in general may not contribute to the implementation of other higher values.
Victory
General definition: suppression of any hostile action.
Semantic field: dominance, superiority, triumph, celebration, success in the fight, defeat of the enemy.
Opposite: defeat.
Extreme points of the scale: destruction of the enemy - victory of the enemy.
Psychological Compliance: Feeling of superiority.
Correspondence in Indian culture: vijaya (विजया).
Corresponding in Chinese culture: shengli (胜利).
Historical and ideological correspondence: Zoroastrianism.
World
General definition: the complete absence of any anger or desire to harm someone.
Semantic field: non-violence, peace, silence, goodness, benevolence, tranquility.
Opposite: violence.
Extreme points of the scale: war against everyone - friendliness to everyone.
Psychological compliance: lack of aggression.
Correspondence in Indian culture: ayoga kevali (silent omniscience, अयोग केवली).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: an le (calm and joyful, 安樂).
Historical and ideological correspondence: Jainism.
Reflection
General definition: removal and revaluation of all existing values.
Semantic field: self-awareness, criticality, wisdom, meditation, creative search.
Opposite: narrow-mindedness.
Extreme points of the scale: going beyond the ordinary - automatism.
Psychological compliance: introspection.
Correspondence in Indian culture: prajna (super-realization, प्रज्ञ).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: zhi (cunning, 智), sheng (perfect wisdom, 聖).
Historical and ideological correspondence: philosophy as a way of life.
Speed
General definition: the frequency of all kinds of adventures.
Semantic field: saturation, richness of events, intensity, turbulence, ebullience, brightness, energy.
Opposite: calm.
Extreme points of the scale: fullness of life - emptiness.
Psychological compliance: agitation.
Correspondence in Indian culture: karita (movement, चरित).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: i (change, 易).
Historical and ideological correspondence: futurism as a way of life, punk and rock movements.
Chaos
General definition: unpredictability of current and upcoming events.
Semantic field: surprise, spontaneity, arbitrariness, chance, uncertainty, confusion, anarchy.
The opposite: boredom.
Extreme points of the scale: fireworks of surprises - hopelessness.
Psychological compliance: anticipation.
Correspondence in Indian culture: abdhuta (divo, अद्भुत).
Correspondence in Chinese culture: hundun (confusion, 混沌).
Historical and ideological correspondence: discordianism, chaos magic.
3. Non-complementary highest value
This value may situationally contribute to the implementation of other higher values, but in general it contradicts them and excludes their implementation.
Nothingness
General definition: elimination of the very possibility of any perceptions.
Semantic field: destruction, destruction, death, extermination, destruction, decay, disappearance, emptiness.
Opposite: life.
Extreme points of the scale: nothingness - a whirlwind of existence.
Psychological compliance: oblivion.
Correspondence in Indian culture: samhara (destruction, संहार), pralaya (dissolution, प्रलय), bhedika (destruction, भेदिका).
Corresponding in Chinese culture: wu (absence of absence, 無無).
Historical and ideological correspondence: nihilism as a way of life.
For double combinations of complementary higher goals, see
Morality or morality is an absolute criterion by which relationships between people are regulated. Moral values are the highest, since they are universal for different societies and social groups. These are the principles that stand above everything else, and by which actions in difficult or controversial situations are verified by people who are guided by everyday life a variety of scales of measures and assessments. The fundamental principle of morality is: “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” The highest moral values equalize people's rights and become the standard for everyone. Morality is an internal attitude of a person that encourages him to behave ethically. Higher moral values play a big role in a person’s life, and in order to know them better, you can attend special or special lecture classes.
- Good as opposed to evil is a person’s selfless and sincere desire for good (help, salvation) in relation to others and himself. A person simply initially consciously chooses the side of good, further developing in this direction, coordinating his actions with what is associated with good.
- Mercy or compassion predetermines leniency towards the weak, crippled, sick or even simply imperfect. Refusal to judge and willingness to help, regardless of the degree of its merits, is mercy.
- Universal happiness is the projection of one's own well-being onto humanity as a whole, also known as humanism. Contrasted with misanthropy and selfishness.
- Salvation is a state of spirit cultivated by various religious and philosophical teachings, to which a person should strive, and for the sake of which moral actions and way of life make sense.
- Honesty is another of the highest moral values. The easiest way to determine a person's level of morality is to observe how often he lies. The only practical justification for lying is a white lie.
Through observance of morality, a person can grow internally, performing noble deeds and self-improvement. It doesn’t matter that for many others such nobility and kindness seem meaningless and unjustified. For the most moral person, this is the only way to develop and rise to a new level of his spiritual life.
For anyone who wants to learn in detail what the highest moral values of a person are, how to correlate them with the basic values of life, it is recommended that the M.S. Center. Norbekova
Value and Appreciation
Cultural values
Value and evaluation. The topic of the relationship between culture and values has been the subject of reflection by many famous philosophers, since it concerns the understanding of the very essence of culture. One of the founders of the theory of values in philosophy, the neo-Kantian G. Rickert, wrote: “If the process of realizing universal social values during historical development we call culture, then we can say that the main subject of history is the depiction of the parts and the whole of the cultural life of man and that any important material from a historical point of view must stand in some connection with the cultural life of man..." [Rikkert G. Philosophy of history // Rickert G. Sciences of nature and sciences of culture. M., 1998. P. 164.] For the sociologist P. Sorokin, values are the basis, the foundation of any culture. You can agree or disagree with these definitions, but with that. That such great thinkers bring together and even identify culture and values should certainly be considered.
The other pole can be considered the rejection of the value-based (axiological) interpretation of culture on the grounds that it leads to Eurocentrism, excluding from the value system everything that contradicts the values of European culture and narrows the concept of culture, limiting it to the sphere of positive values.
To find an acceptable solution, it seems necessary to identify the problems arising here.
First of all, let us turn to the very concept of value. Kant identified two types of the subject's relationship to the world - theoretical (cognitive) and practical (value-based). Knowledge, which has the quality of universality and objectivity, is obtained within the framework of the relationship of the subject to the object, to empirical reality. In the second case we are talking about inner world of a person, about his values, expressing the supra-empirical moral principle inherent in him. G. Rickert, following Kant, also separates values from reality. According to Rickert, the essence of values “consists in their significance, and not in their factuality” [Rikkert G. Sciences of nature and sciences of culture. P. 94.]. In other words, values do not belong to the sphere of being, but to the sphere of significance. If we ignore this opposition typical of Kantianism, we can say that there is a correct idea here, namely that values reflect the characteristics, needs, interests of a person and serve as the basis for assessing the significance of the phenomena of reality for the subject. Thus, the attitude towards the subject is the initial principle of the value relationship. The product of material or spiritual activity becomes a benefit, or a value, precisely within the framework of this relationship, when it means something to the subject. But if we recognize that a person creates in both the material and spiritual spheres that which has meaning for him, and what is significant for the subject is value, then the conclusion is clear: everything created by man, that is, his culture, is value. However, this conclusion would be too simple. It should be noted that “significance” is only the initial and most general characteristic value attitude. But not everything that is significant to a person acquires the status of cultural value. There are phenomena that can only be considered as values, for example ideals, while others can be considered as simply useful objects or actions. But if only useful things are excluded from the concept of value, its scope is sharply narrowed. A useful thing remains valuable, but only in a utilitarian sense. In order to highlight “genuine values”, it is necessary, in addition to the criterion of significance, to introduce others that determine what significance we are talking about and for which subject. This is how concepts arise: material and spiritual values, highest values, social values, universal human values, artistic values, etc. These values really give a culture a certain appearance, make it concrete, given, specific, and at the same time do not turn any one culture into a standard for others. In this capacity, values are the soul of culture.
Correlating with the concept of significance is the category of evaluation, which is the identification of the significance of an object for its subject from the point of view of one or another criterion. The evaluation criteria are endlessly varied. These may be the needs of large social groups, families, individuals, organizations, economic and political interests, fashion requirements or higher spiritual values. Therefore, the question of choosing evaluation criteria is of fundamental importance, if only because from this or that assessment of a phenomenon, conclusions regarding methods of practical action in relation to this phenomenon follow. Superficial, incorrect assessments lead to erroneous actions. Assessments reflect not only the interests and needs of the subject, but also his self-knowledge and knowledge of the object. With the development of material and spiritual culture, with the progress of knowledge, evaluation criteria, and therefore the evaluations themselves, change. What was considered useful turns out to be harmful, beautiful - ugly, good - bad, etc. Since reality is assessed within a particular culture, assessments depend on the type of culture. Assessments are relative in two ways: they always correlate with the subject of assessment, as well as with the nature and level of development of culture and society.
Just as significance is the initial and most general basis of a value relationship, so assessment is the most general form of its identification.
Hierarchy of values. Culture presupposes a certain hierarchy of values. And attempts to build a hierarchical system of cultural values have been made repeatedly, but given the diversity of cultures and worldviews, even within the framework of each of them, creating a generally accepted system of values is a futile task.
The first question that arises when building such a system is: what should be on top of it? Religion and religious philosophy naturally consider the divine beginning of the world to be the highest and absolute value. Life, the human personality and, in general, the values of humanism, moral ideals, universal human values, truth, goodness, and beauty are also put forward as the highest values. For Plato, the pinnacle of the ideal world was good. In questions about whether there are absolute values or whether they are all relative, whether we can talk about supra-historical values or are they only historical, whether there are universal human values or are they an illusion and deception, etc., there is also no unity of opinion. Much depends on the initial philosophical and ideological positions.
People in general tend to seek some kind of absolute support for their existence, knowledge, and value orientations. And this is not accidental, because if everything is relative, then the criterion for distinguishing between truth and lies, good and evil, good and bad is lost, and the foundations of personal moral existence collapse, which is psychologically unbearable. Therefore, the search for fundamental values should be recognized as fair. The idea of a person, of an individual, as the highest value is not pride, but a recognition of the uniqueness of his individual existence in this world. This thesis can become the basis of extreme individualism, but it is not at all necessary if we recognize that a person becomes such only in society, only in culture, only in interaction and communication with other people, that the way of his being is material and spiritual activity. Recognition of the social essence of man removes the opposition between the individual and society. Man is not “thrown” into this world, he creates it, lives in a world that he himself created, although, of course, the physical time of his individual existence is limited by the laws of nature.
As for the historicity of the highest values, then, undoubtedly, they are all historical, for each era brings something of its own into their content. But they also have an element of transhistory. Thus, the biblical commandments - do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery - remain today's moral standards, as they were thousands of years ago. And although people have always killed, stolen, and committed adultery, humanity cannot abandon them; they are moral guidelines for normal human life. But during this time, forms of ownership, people’s relationships, and value systems within the framework of which these norms operated changed.
Thus, the highest values include social, moral, aesthetic, religious ideals and principles that act as spiritual guidelines for human - public and personal - life and activity. In following them, in their implementation, people seek the meaning of their lives. They raise a person above the level of his everyday material needs and interests and thereby elevate him as a social subject, as a subject of culture.
There is also a special object that is not related to culture, but is an absolute value for a person. This is natural nature, untouched by human hands, the Universe. Indeed, isn’t the Sun valuable to humans? It is no coincidence that the ancients deified him, that is, made him an element of their culture. Nature is a value as the natural foundation of human life, society, and culture. This is another proof of the non-identity of the boundaries of culture and values. Nature as a value is the real Absolute.
The analysis of values within the framework of the philosophy of culture inevitably encounters the problem of good and evil. Good is one of the fundamental highest values of human existence and its culture. But can evil be considered a value? Of course, most people will answer in the negative. If we take evil in a broad sense as all phenomena, actions, processes that are negative from the point of view of the ideals of goodness, justice, and humanism, then questions arise as to whether they relate, firstly, to culture and, secondly, to values. If the expression “negative values” is considered meaningless, then they cannot be attributed to the world of human values. This decision meets common sense. No normal person would call theft a cultural value. If we believe that culture is a set of values, then negative phenomena should be excluded from the world of culture.
However, culture is everything created by man, which means it is also negative. It follows that we must either reconsider the original definition of culture, or abandon its identification with a set of values. And yet there are negative phenomena in culture. Without beer there is no Bavaria, without vodka there is no Russia. Christian culture recognizes both God and the devil, and for millennia it has struggled with the problem of theodicy - how to justify the existence of God if evil is happening in the world. If God is merciful and omnipotent, then how can he admit that a bloody trail of wars, crimes, murders, and barbaric mockery of man stretches throughout history?! Apparently, an analysis of the relationship between culture and values leads to a similar problem: how to determine the attitude of negative phenomena to culture, whether they belong to culture or not. Although negative phenomena are excluded from the world of values, they remain cultural phenomena, like God and the devil in the culture of Christianity.
The positive principles of culture characterize its value aspect. But no culture can be imagined without internal contradictions, the clash of positive and negative principles, good and evil, humanity and cruelty, participation and indifference, self-sacrifice and selfishness, holiness and crime. Culture is a complex and contradictory world of man, an internal and objective world, a world of activity and communication, a world of everyday life and higher values. By mastering the values of culture, a person forms his spiritual image and makes his life complete. Education, mastering the heights of scientific knowledge and introducing cultural values to the world - this is the individual’s strategy on the path to a fulfilling life. Kant wrote that the starry sky above us and the moral law within us are the highest things that exist in the world. This majestic image can also be interpreted as an expression of the unity of cognitive and value attitudes towards the world, which is realized when a person comprehends the world and creates himself as a subject of culture.
A person, his moral character, the level of his cultural development are very accurately characterized by his value orientations, what he prefers, what are his life priorities, what path in his life he chooses. These orientations are manifested in his activities, in communication with others, in his self-esteem and assessments of other people.