1. Values and Ethics

2. Values and their Characteristics
Values: standards for determining the relative worth of conditions, situations, people, or things.
Abstract concepts
Commonly accepted as enduring goods
Ideals which people consider to be of outstanding and lasting importance
Not absolutes
Ex: honesty is a value, but may not be the greatest good at all times

3. Not all values can be achieved at all times; therefore, value debates deal with identifying the value(s) that are important in a given situation

4. Values are good Not all good in the same way
Innate/Intrinsic: worthy in and of themselves
Ex: justice, freedom, equality
Instrumental: lead to other things that are perceived as good
Ex: property, altruism, progress, work
It is possible to be both intrinsically and instrumentally good

5. Value Qualifications Cannot just be instrumentally useful
Must be desirable in the abstract
Ex: “fraud” helps you gain property, money, or recognition, but no one would say “fraud” is desirable in and of itself
Many values paired with opposites: disvalues or negative values
Violence and peace
Injustice and justice
Values can also stand in opposition
Ex: value of community often conflicts with value of individualism

6. Common Values in Debate
Altruism
Integrity
Progress
Beauty
Justice
Property
Collective Good
Knowledge
Quality of Life
Community
Leisure
Security
Equality
Life
Self-Actualization
Family
Majority Rule
Work
Free Expression
Nature
Freedom
Peace
Individualism
Privacy

7. What about “happiness?”
Many philosophers claim “happiness” as the ultimate value
In debate it can be too vague to be used as a primary value
Can be used as a standard for evaluating which values should have priority in a given context.

8. Be wary of Quasi-values
Very similar, but not an actual value.
Rights: generally much narrower in definition than a value.
Privileges & Duties: considered less important than rights and can be nullified by other concerns.
Needs: values cannot be coerced, and needs can also be bad for you.
Polices: products of our beliefs; values create our policies