Importance is a property of entities that matter or make a difference. For example, World War II was an important event and Albert Einstein was an important person because of how they affected the world. There are disagreements in the academic literature about what type of difference is required. According to the causal impact view, something is important if it has a big causal impact on the world. This view is rejected by various theorists, who insist that an additional aspect is required: that the impact in question makes a value difference. This is often understood in terms of how the important thing affects the well-being of people. So in this view, World War II was important, not just because it brought about many wide-ranging changes but because these changes had severe negative impacts on the well-being of the people involved. The difference in question is usually understood counterfactually as the contrast between how the world is and how the world would have been without the existence of the important entity. It is often argued that importance claims are context- or domain-dependent. This means that they either explicitly or implicitly assume a certain domain in relation to which something matters. For example, studying for an exam is important in the context of academic success but not in the context of world history . Importance comes in degrees: to be important usually means to matter more within the domain in question than most of the other entities within this domain.
213-507: The term "importance" is often used in overlapping ways with various related terms, such as " meaningfulness ", "value", and "caring". Theorists frequently try to elucidate these terms by comparing them to show what they have in common and how they differ. A meaningful life is usually also important in some sense. But meaningfulness has additional requirements: life should be guided by the agent's intention and directed at realizing some form of higher purpose. In some contexts, to say that something
426-410: A clarinetist . The terms incomparability and incommensurability are often used as synonyms. However, philosophers like Ruth Chang distinguish them. According to this view, incommensurability means that there is no common measure to quantify values of different types. Incommensurable values may or may not be comparable. If they are, it is possible to say that one value is better than another, but it
639-659: A formal science , akin to logic and mathematics . It uses axioms to give an abstract definition of value, understanding it not as a property of things but as a property of concepts. Values measure the extent to which an entity fulfills its concept. For example, a good car has all the desirable qualities of cars, like a reliable engine and effective brakes, whereas a bad car lacks many. Formal axiology distinguishes between three fundamental value types: intrinsic values apply to people; extrinsic values apply to things, actions, and social roles; systemic values apply to conceptual constructs. Formal axiology examines how these value types form
852-517: A textbook on the subject. For example, in the context of the general biography of someone, if a full chapter is dedicated to the description of a single event in this person's life then this event is prima facie more important than another event described only in two sentences. Another heuristic is to consider the temporal and spatial dimensions of the event in relation to the size of the domain. For example, one reason why global pandemics , like Covid-19 , are more important than local epidemics , like
1065-527: A thought experiment that imagines the valuable thing in isolation from everything else. In such a situation, purely instrumentally valuable things lose their value since they serve no purpose while purely intrinsically valuable things remain valuable. According to a common view, pleasure is one of the sources of intrinsic value. Other suggested sources include desire satisfaction, virtue , life , health , beauty , freedom , and knowledge . Intrinsic and instrumental value are not exclusive categories. As
1278-451: A truth value , a position known as non-cognitivism . For example, emotivists say that value claims express emotional attitudes, similar to how exclamations like "Yay!" or "Boo!" express emotions rather than stating facts. Cognitivists contend that value statements have a truth value. Error theorists defend anti-realism based on this view by stating that all value statements are false because there are no values. Another view accepts
1491-489: A white hole on the inside of a black hole in another parent universe. Many-worlds theories claim that every possibility of quantum mechanics is played out in parallel universes. The nature and origin of consciousness and the mind are also widely debated in science. The explanatory gap is generally equated with the hard problem of consciousness , and the question of free will is also considered to be of fundamental importance. These subjects are mostly addressed in
1704-481: A "space of conscious elements", often encompassing a number of extra dimensions. Electromagnetic theories of consciousness solve the binding problem of consciousness in saying that the electromagnetic field generated by the brain is the actual carrier of conscious experience; there is however disagreement about the implementations of such a theory relating to other workings of the mind. Quantum mind theories use quantum theory in explaining certain properties of
1917-439: A bigger difference than most of the other things in its domain. Because of this context-dependence, importance may be understood as a relational or extrinsic property : an event may have importance relative to one domain and lack it relative to another domain. Some researchers also consider the possibility of a form of absolute importance that is not restricted to one specific domain. Things that are important to everything else or
2130-485: A broader horizon of values, including those beyond anyone's control. Some perspectives contrast ethics and value theory, asserting that the normative concepts examined by ethics are distinct from the evaluative concepts examined by value theory. Axiological ethics is a subfield of ethics examining the nature and role of values from a moral perspective, with particular interest in determining which ends are worth pursuing. The ethical theory of consequentialism combines
2343-464: A causal impact on a large scale" then human life seems to be cosmically unimportant. Such a view is held by David Benatar , who defends this claim by arguing that "[n]othing we do on Earth has any effect beyond it". A similar pessimistic outlook may be motivated by comparing the spatial and temporal dimensions of human life with those of the universe as a whole. However, various theorists have opposed this pessimistic view. Their arguments usually focus on
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#17327654808822556-449: A central aspect of the value of importance is whether the difference in question is positive or negative. Being important because one discovers a cure for cancer is a valuable form of importance while being important because one causes a global pandemic is a bad form of importance. This is a key difference since some people may be driven by a desire for importance independent of whether it is positive or negative. In this case, they may cause
2769-407: A commodity provides—and exchange value —the proportion at which one commodity can be exchanged with another. It focuses on exchange value, which it says is determined by the amount of labor required to produce the commodity . In its simplest form, it directly correlates exchange value to labor time. For example, if the time needed to hunt a deer is twice the time needed to hunt a beaver then one deer
2982-407: A computer game or their favorite sports team. Usually, a certain primacy is given to objective importance, which is seen as an independent factor. In this view, the subjective attitude of caring should track this objective factor. Nonetheless, some theorists have argued that this may not always be the case. According to Harry Frankfurt, for example, caring about something makes this thing important to
3195-416: A concomitant vicious character. The Cynical life rejects conventional desires for wealth , power , health , and fame , by being free of the possessions acquired in pursuing the conventional. As reasoning creatures, people could achieve happiness via rigorous training, by living in a way natural to human beings. The world equally belongs to everyone, so suffering is caused by false judgments of what
3408-449: A cosmic level when judged based on its causal impact but has it in relation to the value difference it makes. Other central aspects of importance are its context-dependence, i.e. that importance claims usually assess the significance of something relative to a certain domain, and its relationality, i.e. that the extent of the impact is usually assessed relative to the impact of other entities within this domain. Importance manifests in degrees:
3621-421: A descendant of a world-historic individual may think themselves important because of this connection even though they have had very little impact on the world. Importance plays various roles in ethics , for example, concerning what reasons we have for an action , how we should act, and what merits attention . Questions of importance play a direct role in morality . According to utilitarians , for example, only
3834-475: A desire can only provide value if a fully informed and rational person would have it. This view excludes faulty desires. Perfectionism identifies the realization of human nature and the cultivation of characteristic human abilities as the source of intrinsic goodness. It covers capacities and character traits belonging to the bodily, emotional, volitional, cognitive, social, artistic, and religious fields. Perfectionists disagree about which human excellences are
4047-555: A four-component solution to the question of meaning in life, with the four components purpose, understanding, responsibility, and enjoyment (PURE): Thus, a sense of significance permeates every dimension of meaning, rather than standing as a separate factor. Although most psychology researchers consider meaning in life as a subjective feeling or judgment, most philosophers (e.g., Thaddeus Metz , Daniel Haybron) propose that there are also objective, concrete criteria for what constitutes meaning in life. Wong has proposed that whether life
4260-473: A fundamental aspect of reality and how they affect phenomena such as emotion , desire , decision, and action . Its topic is relevant to many human endeavors because values are guiding principles that underlie the political, economic, scientific, and personal spheres. Value theory analyzes and evaluates phenomena such as well-being , utility , beauty , human life, knowledge , wisdom , freedom , love , and justice . The precise definition of value theory
4473-410: A hard-fought battle. Carlyle may have been inspired by earlier usage of the equivalent German expression der Sinn des Lebens by German Romantic writers Novalis and Friedrich Schlegel . Schlegel was the first to use it in print by way of his novel Lucinde (1799), though Novalis had done so in a 1797–1798 manuscript, in which he wrote: "Only an artist can divine the meaning of life." Additionally,
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#17327654808824686-633: A hierarchy and how they can be measured. Value theorists employ various methods to conduct their inquiry, justify theories, and measure values. Intuitionists rely on intuitions to assess evaluative claims. In this context, an intuition is an immediate apprehension or understanding of a self-evident claim, meaning that its truth can be assessed without inferring it from another observation. Value theorists often rely on thought experiments to gain this type of understanding. Thought experiments are imagined scenarios that exemplify philosophical problems. Philosophers use counterfactual reasoning to evaluate
4899-422: A hierarchy of values reflecting the relative importance and weight of different value types to help people promote higher values when faced with difficult choices. For example, philosopher Max Scheler ranks values based on how enduring and fulfilling they are into the levels of pleasure, utility, vitality, culture, and holiness. He asserts that people should not promote lower values, like pleasure, if this comes at
5112-432: A life that has both importance and value. There is an intimate connection between the importance of something and the attitude of caring about this thing. One way to distinguish the two is to see importance as an objective factor in contrast to caring as a subjective attitude . The attitude consists of ascribing importance to something, paying attention to it, and treating it accordingly. A person who cares about something
5325-439: A lot of havoc to the world around them if they are under the impression that they can only achieve importance through a negative impact. For example, someone may "try to become important by assassinating a political leader or cultural figure" without caring about the negative side effects of this act. On the psychological level, the impression of being important does not always correspond to someone's actual importance. For example,
5538-435: A lot while others benefit little, even if the two outcomes have the same sum total. Axiological prioritarians are particularly concerned with the benefits of individuals who are worse off. They say that providing advantages to people in need has more value than providing the same advantages to others. Formal axiology is a theory of value initially developed by philosopher Robert S. Hartman . This approach treats axiology as
5751-552: A multidisciplinary area of inquiry that covers research from fields like sociology , anthropology , psychology , and economics in addition to philosophy . In a narrow sense, value theory is a subdiscipline of ethics that is particularly relevant to the school of consequentialism since it determines how to assess the value of consequences. The word axiology has its origin in the ancient Greek terms ἄξιος (axios, meaning ' worth ' or ' value ' ) and λόγος (logos, meaning ' study ' or ' theory of ' ). Even though
5964-556: A natural extension of simpler non- or pre-biological physical processes should logically be included in the concept "meaning of life". Though the Big Bang theory was met with much skepticism when first introduced, it has become well-supported by several independent observations. However, current physics can only describe the early universe from around 10 seconds after the Big Bang (where zero time corresponds to infinite temperature);
6177-455: A negative response: that human life lacks a higher meaning or significance. In this regard, it is often argued that, from this perspective, the Earth and all life on it are a mere "speck of dust in a vast universe" and "without significance, import or purpose beyond our planet". Whether this outlook is correct may depend on how the concept of "importance" is understood. If "important" means "having
6390-429: A person had to study and practice in order to become "good"; thus if the person were to become virtuous , he could not simply study what virtue is , he had to be virtuous, via virtuous activities. To do this, Aristotle established what is virtuous: Every skill and every inquiry, and similarly, every action and choice of action, is thought to have some good as its object. This is why the good has rightly been defined as
6603-435: A person is responsible for or guilty of. For example, if Mei promises to pick Pedro up from the airport then an agent-relative value obligates Mei to drive to the airport. This obligation is in place even if it does not benefit Mei, in which case there is an agent-relative value without a personal value. In consequentialism , agent-relative values are often discussed in relation to ethical dilemmas . One dilemma revolves around
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6816-454: A positive light or have a good reputation . People may become famous because they do important things. The attention they get due to being famous may, in turn, help them do further important things. But the two can come apart nonetheless: not everyone who makes an important difference becomes famous and not all famous people make important differences. It has been argued that importance is in some sense more basic and that fame depends on it: "fame
7029-415: A positive or negative value even if they are not right or wrong in a strict sense. Despite the distinction, evaluative and normative concepts are closely related. For example, the value of the consequences of an action may affect whether this action is right or wrong. Value theorists distinguish various types or categories of values. The different classifications overlap and are based on considerations like
7242-403: A predicate to talk about the unqualified value of pleasure. Attributive and predicative goodness can accompany each other, but this is not always the case. For instance, being a good thief is not necessarily a good thing. Another type of relative value restricts goodness to a specific person. Known as personal value , it expresses what benefits a particular person, promotes their welfare , or
7455-427: A prominent dispute between naturalists and non-naturalists hinges on the conceptual analysis of the term good , in particular, whether its meaning can be analyzed through natural terms, like pleasure . In the social sciences , value theorists face the challenge of measuring the evaluative outlook of individuals and groups. Specifically, they aim to determine personal value hierarchies, for example, whether
7668-516: A reason for other people to change their behavior towards this thing accordingly. Yitzhak Benbaji agrees that this may happen in some cases but denies that it can be generalized. According to him, this type of case contrasts with other cases of things that lack importance to a person independent of the person's conscious attitude towards them. For example, a person might care about their deeply damaged relationship with their spouse. This caring attitude might be based on wrong beliefs about how negatively
7881-641: A reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, reduced risk of heart attack among individuals with coronary heart disease, reduced risk of stroke, and increased longevity in both American and Japanese samples. There is also growing evidence for a small decline in purpose in life in the early stages of cognitive impairment. In 2014, the British National Health Service began recommending a five-step plan for mental well-being based on meaningful lives, whose steps are: The exact mechanisms of abiogenesis are unknown: notable hypotheses include
8094-473: A result, a thing can have both intrinsic and instrumental value if it is both good in itself while also leading to other good things. In a similar sense, a thing can have different instrumental values at the same time, both positive and negative ones. This is the case if some of its consequences are good while others are bad. The total instrumental value of a thing is the value balance of all its consequences. Because instrumental value depends on other values, it
8307-419: A short drive to the supermarket does not fulfill the agent's desire for importance because they refrained from running over any of the pedestrians they passed on the way. This issue raises the question of the value of importance, i.e. whether it is good for a person to be important or whether this should be desired. This also has a moral dimension since it determines whether the motivation to become important
8520-428: A social level using theoretical constructs such as value theory , norms, anomie , etc. One value system suggested by social psychologists , broadly called Terror Management Theory , states that human meaning is derived from a fundamental fear of death, and values are selected when they allow us to escape the mental reminder of death. Alongside this, there are a number of theories about the way in which humans evaluate
8733-482: A specific goal while others are important by contributing to the intrinsic or final value. For example, knowing a certain historic fact may be instrumentally important for someone trying to pass an exam but may lack importance independent of this goal. Other facts, like that Apartheid in South Africa was abolished, are different in the sense that they are important independently of anyone's aims by contributing to
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8946-400: A split would affect them, meaning that both partners would be better off without it. In this case, the relationship is not important to the person even though they care about it. A similar case involves a person who, following the health advice of a charlatan, starts caring a lot about avoiding a certain type of food. But as it turns out, this food has no health impact whatsoever in this case and
9159-400: A spy may find it very difficult to continue in their discreet line of business if they become well known due to their importance. Importance is not automatically a good thing. In some cases, it is even obviously a bad thing. For example, the fact that the black death traveled from Asia to Europe was an important event. But, due to its tragic consequences, it was not a good thing to happen. So
9372-577: A subject gives more weight to truth than to moral goodness or beauty. They distinguish between direct and indirect measurement methods. Direct methods involve asking people straightforward questions about what things they value and which value priorities they have. This approach assumes that people are aware of their evaluative outlook and able to articulate it accurately. Indirect methods do not share this assumption, asserting instead that values guide behavior and choices on an unconscious level. Consequently, they observe how people decide and act, seeking to infer
9585-453: A subjective attitude as a form of caring. In this regard, that a child is important to their mother means that the mother has a certain attitude towards her child. This attitude usually includes the idea that its target is worthy of love and appreciation. The second meaning refers to an objective sense of having value. This type of importance is not restricted to someone's attitude. It is expressed, for example, when stating that Albert Einstein
9798-437: A theory of quantum gravity would be required to understand events before that time. Nevertheless, many physicists have speculated about what would have preceded this limit, and how the universe came into being. For example, one interpretation is that the Big Bang occurred coincidentally, and when considering the anthropic principle , it is sometimes interpreted as implying the existence of a multiverse . The ultimate fate of
10011-410: A value difference. So an event is important not because of its sheer causal impact but because of the differences on the evaluative level it brings about. To assess the value impact of something, it is necessary to study not just the thing itself but also its wider and sometimes indirect impact on its surroundings. Many theorists combine both views in their conception of importance: things are important to
10224-402: A widely accepted main classification. Some focus on the types of entities that have value. They include distinct categories for entities like things, the environment, individuals, groups, and society. Another subdivision pays attention to the type of benefit involved and encompasses material, economic, moral, social, political, aesthetic, and religious values. Classifications by the beneficiary of
10437-557: Is a closely related field focusing primarily on normative concepts about which behavior is right, whereas value theory explores evaluative concepts about what is good. In economics, theories of value are frameworks to assess and explain the economic value of commodities . Sociology and anthropology examine values as aspects of societies and cultures, reflecting their dominant preferences and beliefs. Psychologists tend to understand values as abstract motivational goals that shape an individual's personality . The roots of value theory lie in
10650-469: Is a complex hierarchy of needs . The needs on the higher levels, like esteem and self-actualization, can only be fulfilled once the needs on the lower levels, like food and shelter, are fulfilled. A more general definition includes not just negative impacts on well-being, but also positive ones. So a thing may be important either because it harms someone or because it helps someone or is enjoyed by them. A similar connection between being good and being important
10863-464: Is a controversial field which tries to find neural correlates and mechanisms of religious experience. Some researchers have suggested that the human brain has innate mechanisms for such experiences and that living without using them for their evolved purposes may be a cause of imbalance. Studies have reported conflicting results on correlating happiness with religious belief and it is difficult to find unbiased meta-analyses. Sociology examines value at
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#173276548088211076-532: Is a form of practical preference : it determines the weight the agent ascribes to different options in the process of deciding in favor of one of them. This weight depends not just on the value of the different outcomes but also on the agent's ability to affect these outcomes. Finding something important, on the other hand, does not imply that the agent has any power over it. So a traveler may find it important to have good weather during their trip even though this does not carry deliberative priority for them since there
11289-484: Is a primary function to life, it is the replication of DNA and the survival of one's genes. Responding to an interview question from Richard Dawkins about "what it is all for", James Watson stated "I don't think we're for anything. We're just the products of evolution." Though scientists have intensively studied life on Earth , defining life in unequivocal terms is still a challenge. Physically, one may say that life "feeds on negative entropy " which refers to
11502-427: Is a property of desire satisfaction itself, while others say that it is a property of the objects that satisfy a desire. One debate in desire theory concerns whether any desire is a source of value. For example, if a person has a false belief that money makes them happy, it is questionable whether the satisfaction of their desire for money is a source of value. To address this consideration, some desire theorists say that
11715-563: Is a property of the fact that Bill is pleased. This distinction affects various disputes in value theory. In some cases, a value is intrinsic according to one view and extrinsic according to the other. Value realism contrasts with anti-realism , which comes in various forms. In its strongest version, anti-realism rejects the existence of values in any form, claiming that value statements are meaningless. Between these two positions, there are various intermediary views. Some anti-realists accept that value claims have meaning but deny that they have
11928-447: Is about whether the entity carrying the value is a concrete individual or a state of affairs . For instance, the name "Bill" refers to an individual while the sentence "Bill is pleased" refers to a state of affairs. States of affairs are complex entities that combine other entities, like the individual "Bill" and the property "is pleased". Some value theorists hold that the value is a property directly of Bill while others contend that it
12141-599: Is an older and less common synonym. Value is the worth, usefulness, or merit of something. Many evaluative terms are employed to talk about value, including good , best , great , and excellent as well as their negative counterparts, like bad and terrible . Some value terms, like good and bad , are pure evaluations in that they only express the value of something without any additional descriptive content. They are known as thin evaluative concepts . Thick evaluative concepts , like courageous and cruel , provide more information by expressing other qualities besides
12354-483: Is an open question whether it should be understood as a value in a strict sense. For example, the overall value of a chain of causes leading to an intrinsically valuable thing remains the same if instrumentally valuable links are added or removed without affecting the intrinsically valuable thing. The observation that the overall value does not change is sometimes used as an argument that the things added or removed do not have value. Traditionally, value theorists have used
12567-496: Is based on the relation to the quality of life . Finding meaning in life contributes to the quality or final value of that life. Being important, on the other hand, carries with it various instrumental values but need not improve the quality of the life in question. In the ideal case, the two coincide in a life that is both meaningful and important. But not everyone agrees with the distinction between meaningfulness and importance. Some consequentialists , for example, hold that "a life
12780-528: Is being knighted. This embarrassment would not make his life meaningful even if it was important by somehow causing a brutal war to end. Another difference is that some form of higher purpose is necessary for meaningfulness but not for importance. It has also been argued that meaningfulness can be brought about by the mere appreciation of valuable things. This may be the case, for example, by worshipping God. For importance, however, valuable things must be created or defended and not just admired. Another distinction
12993-402: Is central that the event in question is guided by the agent's purpose and intentions. So in this regard, random events that happen by accident may still have tremendous importance due to their causal consequences, as in the case of unintended butterfly effects . But such events do not make life meaningful. In an example due to Thomas Nagel , the pants of a nobleman accidentally drop the moment he
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#173276548088213206-465: Is central to importance. According to the value impact view, this factor consists of an impact on the intrinsic or final value. In this regard, the relation to value is built into the concept of importance: causal powers only matter instrumentally by bringing about or protecting valuable things. Against the pure causal impact view of importance, it has been argued that having immense causal powers does not entail importance if these powers are not used to make
13419-404: Is central to numerous fields and issues. Many people desire to be important or to lead an important life. It has been argued that this is not always a good goal since it can also be realized negatively: by causing a lot of harm and thereby making an important but negative value difference. Common desires that are closely related include wanting power , wealth , and fame. In the realm of ethics ,
13632-401: Is context-independent. Theories of value aggregation provide concrete principles for calculating the overall value of an outcome based on how positively or negatively each individual is affected by it. For example, if a government implements a new policy that affects some people positively and others negatively, theories of value aggregation can be used to determine whether the overall value of
13845-457: Is disputed and some theorists rely on alternative characterizations. In a broad sense, value theory is a catch-all label that encompasses all philosophical disciplines studying evaluative or normative topics. According to this view, value theory is one of the main branches of philosophy and includes ethics , aesthetics , social philosophy , political philosophy , and philosophy of religion . A similar broad characterization sees value theory as
14058-458: Is drawn by Ernst Tugendhat . He defines "good" as that which is justifiably preferred. According to him, this can be understood, for the most part, in relation to someone's well-being: a thing is good or justifiably preferable to the extent that it contributes to someone's future well-being. In the case of altruism , for example, an action by one person is good because it aims at improving the well-being of another person. The value impact of things
14271-697: Is good asserts that kindness possesses the property of goodness. Value realists disagree about what type of property is involved. Naturalists say that value is a natural property. Natural properties can be known through empirical observation and are studied by the natural sciences. This means that value is similar to other natural properties, like size and shape. Non-naturalists reject this view but agree that values are real. They say that values differ significantly from empirical properties and belong to another realm of reality. According to one view, they are known through rational or emotional intuition rather than empirical observation. Another disagreement among realists
14484-423: Is important if it makes an important difference. Various suggestions have been made to give a more substantial account of the nature of this difference. This is necessary to give a precise definition that can distinguish important from unimportant things. The idea behind such an approach is that there are many ways to make an important difference and there should be some element they all share in common. According to
14697-445: Is important in the widest domain, i.e. important in relation to everything else out there or important all things considered. This is intimately related to the idea that some things have absolute importance or importance independent of a context. Raising the question of the cosmic importance of human life is frequently motivated by the perspective of the universe as a whole as described by modern science. This perspective seems to suggest
14910-414: Is important means the same as saying that it is valuable. More generally, however, importance refers not to value itself but to a value difference. This difference may also be negative: some events are important because they have very bad consequences. Importance is often treated as an objective feature in contrast to the subjective attitude of caring about something or ascribing importance to it. Ideally,
15123-419: Is important to someone then it is appropriate for them to care about it: it becomes worthy of the caring attitude. However, caring about something is irrational or inappropriate if the thing lacks importance to the person. For example, it is not important whether a pedestrian steps on the sidewalk cracks or not, which is why caring about this fact is inappropriate. Ideally, the degree of caring should correspond to
15336-405: Is in their interest. For example, a poem written by a child may have personal value for the parents even if the poem lacks value for others. Impersonal value, by contrast, is good in general without restriction to any specific person or viewpoint. Some philosophers, like G. E. Moore , reject the existence of personal values, holding that all values are impersonal. Others have proposed theories about
15549-610: Is interested in marginal utility , the additional satisfaction gained from consuming one more unit of the commodity. Marginal utility often diminishes if many units have already been consumed, leading to a decrease in the exchange value of commodities that are abundantly available. Both the labor theory and the marginal theory were later challenged by the Sraffian theory of value . Sociology studies social behavior, relationships, institutions, and society at large. In their analyses and explanations of these phenomena, some sociologists use
15762-405: Is just tiny compared to the cosmic scale. A negative response to the question of the cosmic importance of human life may lead to a form of nihilism or absurdism . On the moral or ethical level, nihilism can be expressed as the view that nothing really matters or that nothing has any importance. This view is closely related to absurdism. Absurdists accept this basic outlook and use it to argue for
15975-434: Is known as an organic unity , a whole whose intrinsic value differs from the sum of the intrinsic values of its parts. Another perspective, called holism about value , asserts that the intrinsic value of a thing depends on its context. Holists can argue that happiness has positive intrinsic value in the context of virtue and negative intrinsic value in the context of vice. Atomists reject this view, saying that intrinsic value
16188-493: Is meaningful depends not only on subjective feelings but, more importantly, on whether a person's goal-striving and life as a whole is meaningful according to some objective normative standard . The philosophical perspectives on the meaning of life are those ideologies that explain life in terms of ideals or abstractions defined by humans. Plato , a pupil of Socrates , was one of the earliest, most influential philosophers. His reputation comes from his idealism of believing in
16401-416: Is meaningful to the extent that it makes the world overall better" without a direct reference to the agent's intentions or a higher purpose. Some theorists treat the terms "important" and "valuable" as synonyms. This way of speaking works in various cases but is not generally accepted. Importance is a more complex concept since it depends not just on the value itself but also on the domain of evaluation and on
16614-461: Is morally acceptable or misguided. Becoming important is good at least in the sense that it fulfills the desire of these people. However, the deeper question is whether importance has a value independent of such specific desires. Being important can also have various other side effects. Some of them may be beneficial by helping the person achieve something else they desire, like fame or power. But for others, such side effects may hinder them. For example,
16827-421: Is more noteworthy or influential than an average school of Hellenistic philosophy. This is similar to other gradable adjectives , like "small" or "expensive", which carry an implicit comparison to other entities in the corresponding domain. For example, a baby whale is small in relation to other whales even though it is not small when compared to other forms of sea life . This comparison can be directly linked to
17040-629: Is no consensus on a definitive answer, and thinking or discourse on the topic is sought in the English language through the question , "What is the meaning of life?" (or the related "Why are we here ?" or "What is the purpose of existence?"). There have been many proposed answers to these questions from many different cultural and ideological backgrounds. The search for life's meaning has produced much philosophical , scientific , theological , and metaphysical speculation throughout history. Different people and cultures believe different things for
17253-419: Is not desirable for the sake of achieving some other good, and all other "goods" desirable for its sake. This involves achieving eudaemonia , usually translated as "happiness", "well-being", "flourishing", and "excellence". What is the highest good in all matters of action? To the name, there is an almost complete agreement; for uneducated and educated alike call it happiness, and make happiness identical with
17466-416: Is not important since it does not have a significant impact beyond itself. Chess differs in this aspect from mathematics : both activities have occupied some of the brightest minds but only the insights discovered in mathematical inquiry have had important implications beyond themselves in the form of scientific and technological developments. This distinction is also central to Nozick's thought experiment of
17679-405: Is not possible to quantify how much better it is. Several controversies surround the question of how the intrinsic value of a whole is determined by the intrinsic values of its parts. According to the additivity principle, the intrinsic value of a whole is simply the sum of the intrinsic values of its parts. For example, if a virtuous person becomes happy then the intrinsic value of the happiness
17892-441: Is nothing they can do about this fact. Importance is a broad term with various closely related meanings. For this reason, many theorists try to distinguish different types of importance to clarify what they mean and to avoid misunderstandings. According to Guy Kahane, the distinction between instrumental value and final value found in axiology has its counterpart in the field of importance. So some things are important relative to
18105-429: Is of two workers on an apparently boring production line in a factory. One treats the work as a tedious chore while the other turns it into a game to see how fast they can make each unit and achieves flow in the process. Neuroscience describes reward , pleasure , and motivation in terms of neurotransmitter activity, especially in the limbic system and the ventral tegmental area in particular. If one believes that
18318-526: Is often understood counterfactually : based on how much value would be lost or gained if, hypothetically speaking, the thing had not existed. This value includes both the intrinsic and the instrumental value of the thing. In the former case, some things are important because they are good in themselves, like pleasurable experiences. In the latter case, some things are important because they are useful to other things and help them become more valuable, like medicine or school books. The overall degree of importance
18531-405: Is rejected by anti-realists , some of whom argue that values are subjective human creations, whereas others claim that value statements are meaningless. Several sources of value have been proposed, such as hedonism , which says that only pleasure has intrinsic value, and desire theories, which identify desires as the ultimate source of value. Perfectionism , another prominent theory, emphasizes
18744-399: Is seen as an individual of world-historic importance because of how his decisions affected the course of history and changed the lives of many Europeans. Something similar is true for many world-historic figures: they affected how many people lived, perceived them, and responded to them. However, various arguments have been raised against the causal impact view, often based on counterexamples to
18957-520: Is simply added to the intrinsic value of the virtue, thereby increasing the overall value. Various counterexamples to the additivity principle have been proposed, suggesting that the relation between parts and wholes is more complex. For example, Immanuel Kant argued that if a vicious person becomes happy, this happiness, though good in itself, does not increase the overall value. On the contrary, it makes things worse, according to Kant, since viciousness should not be rewarded with happiness. This situation
19170-527: Is that "good lies in the state of the soul", itself, exemplified in wisdom and self-control, thus improving one's spiritual well-being: " Virtue consists in a will which is in agreement with Nature." The principle applies to one's personal relations thus: "to be free from anger, envy, and jealousy". The Enlightenment and the colonial era both changed the nature of European philosophy and exported it worldwide. Devotion and subservience to God were largely replaced by notions of inalienable natural rights and
19383-561: Is the assessment or measurement of value, often employed to compare the benefits of different options to find the most advantageous choice. Evaluative terms are sometimes distinguished from normative or deontic terms. Normative terms, like right , wrong , and obligation , prescribe actions or other states by expressing what ought to be done or what is required. Evaluative terms have a wider scope because they are not limited to what people can control or are responsible for. For example, involuntary events like digestion and earthquakes can have
19596-462: Is the meaning of life at all? To what purpose is it played, this farce in which everything that is essential is irrevocably fixed and determined? Questions about the meaning of life, and similar, have been expressed in a broad variety of other ways, including: These questions have resulted in a wide range of competing answers and explications, from scientific theories, to philosophical , theological , and spiritual explanations. Many members of
19809-411: Is the only source of value. This theory overlaps with hedonism because many people desire pleasure and because desire satisfaction is often accompanied by pleasure. Nonetheless, there are important differences: people desire a variety of other things as well, like knowledge, achievement, and respect; additionally, desire satisfaction may not always result in pleasure. Some desire theorists hold that value
20022-430: Is the view that values have mind-independent existence. This means that objective facts determine what has value, irrespective of subjective beliefs and preferences. According to this view, the evaluative statement "That act is bad" is as objectively true or false as the empirical statement "That act causes distress". Realists often analyze values as properties of valuable things. For example, stating that kindness
20235-448: Is the worth of something, usually understood as a degree that covers both positive and negative magnitudes corresponding to the terms good and bad . Values influence many human endeavors related to emotion , decision-making , and action . Value theorists distinguish between intrinsic and instrumental value . An entity has intrinsic value if it is good in itself, independent of external factors. An entity has instrumental value if it
20448-420: Is then given by the total value difference a thing makes. Most theorists agree that importance claims are context-dependent. This means that the importance of a thing is relative to a certain domain. For example, preparing for an exam is important in the context of academic success or a revealing slip of the tongue may be important in the context of ruining someone's career. But these events are not important in
20661-427: Is therefore objectively unimportant to the person. This way, it is possible to distinguish caring from importance: a person may care about something even though this thing is unimportant since it has no impact on the person's well-being. The opposite is also possible: something may have an impact on the person's well-being but they may be unaware of this impact and therefore do not care about the thing. This corresponds to
20874-400: Is thus not indifferent to this thing. However, it has been argued that people very often care about things that lack independent or objective importance. For example, a person with the obsessive-compulsive disorder may care a lot about things like not stepping on a crack in the sidewalk even though this is objectively unimportant. A similar issue may concern the importance some people invest in
21087-724: Is to be in harmony with the universe's divine order, entailed by one's recognition of the universal logos , or reason, an essential value of all people. The meaning of life is "freedom from suffering " through apatheia (Gr: απαθεια), that is, being objective and having "clear judgement", not indifference. Stoicism's prime directives are virtue , reason , and natural law , abided to develop personal self-control and mental fortitude as means of overcoming destructive emotions . The Stoic does not seek to extinguish emotions, only to avoid emotional troubles, by developing clear judgment and inner calm through diligently practiced logic, reflection, and concentration. The Stoic ethical foundation
21300-448: Is useful as a means leading to other good things. Some classifications focus on the type of benefit, including economic, moral, political, aesthetic, and religious values. Other categorizations, based on the meaning and function of evaluative terms, discuss attributive, predicative, personal, impersonal, and agent-relative values. Value realists state that values have mind-independent existence as objective features of reality. This view
21513-630: Is usually understood as an admirable goal associated with self-transcendence while craving importance is often seen as a less noble and more egocentric undertaking. There are various accounts of what meaning in life is. Some theorists identify three essential features: life is meaningful if (1) it is guided by purposes that are valuable for their own sake, (2) it transcends mere animal nature by connecting to something larger, and (3) it merits certain attitudes, such as taking pride in it or admiration from others. These criteria can be used to distinguish meaningfulness and importance. For meaningfulness, it
21726-451: Is valuable and what is worthless per the customs and conventions of society . Aristippus of Cyrene , a pupil of Socrates , founded an early Socratic school that emphasized only one side of Socrates's teachings—that happiness is one of the ends of moral action and that pleasure is the supreme good; thus a hedonistic world view, wherein bodily gratification is more intense than mental pleasure. Cyrenaics prefer immediate gratification to
21939-486: Is what importance merits". So ideally, the more important someone is the more famous they should be. Power is often closely related to fame or how other people perceive and react to the individual since many types of power arise from people responding to the powerful individual, for example, by following their command. Meaning of life The meaning of life pertains to the inherent significance or philosophical meaning of living (or existence in general). There
22152-434: Is worth two beavers. The philosopher Karl Marx extended the labor theory of value in various ways. He introduced the concept of surplus value , which goes beyond the time and resources invested to explain how capitalists can profit from the labor of their employees. The marginal theory of value focuses on consumption rather than production. It says that the utility a commodity is the source of its value. Specifically, it
22365-416: The Big Bang , the origin of life , and evolution , and by studying the objective factors which correlate with the subjective experience of meaning and happiness. Researchers in positive psychology study empirical factors that lead to life satisfaction, full engagement in activities, making a fuller contribution by using one's personal strengths, and meaning based on investing in something larger than
22578-505: The Chinese philosopher Zhang Dainian, says that the value of truth belongs to knowledge, the value of goodness belongs to behavior, and the value of beauty belongs to art. This three-fold distinction also plays a central role in the philosophies of Franz Brentano and Jürgen Habermas . Other suggested types of values include objective, subjective, potential, actual, contingent, necessary, inherent, and constitutive values. Value realism
22791-533: The RNA world hypothesis (RNA-based replicators) and the iron-sulfur world hypothesis (metabolism without genetics). The process by which different lifeforms have developed throughout history via genetic mutation and natural selection is explained by evolution . At the end of the 20th century, based upon insight gleaned from the gene-centered view of evolution , biologists George C. Williams , Richard Dawkins , and David Haig , among others, concluded that if there
23004-522: The Western African Ebola virus epidemic , is due to their increased spatial extension. Another aspect of importance, besides its dependence on a context, is that it is relational. This means that it involves an explicit or implicit comparison with other entities in the corresponding domain. So to say that stoicism is an important school of Hellenistic philosophy implies a comparison to other schools of Hellenistic philosophy, i.e. that it
23217-414: The ability to affect outcomes or to carry out one's own will despite resistance. These causal effects establish an intimate relation to importance, especially if importance is defined in terms of having a big causal impact. Wealth, and the luxury that comes with it, is usually treated as an indication that a person is important. According to Nozick, there is a central distinction between wealth and power, on
23430-434: The ancient period in the form of reflections on the highest good that humans should pursue. Value theory, also known as axiology and theory of values , is the systematic study of values . As the branch of philosophy examining which things are good and what it means for something to be good, it distinguishes different types of values and explores how they can be measured and compared. It also studies whether values are
23643-436: The existence of one or multiple gods , conceptions of God , the soul , and the afterlife . Scientific contributions focus primarily on describing related empirical facts about the universe , exploring the context and parameters concerning the "how" of life. Science also studies and can provide recommendations for the pursuit of well-being and a related conception of morality . An alternative, humanistic approach poses
23856-505: The experience machine . This machine is similar to the Matrix in the Matrix movies . It provides a permanent simulated reality and can offer its subjects a life filled with joy and well-being . Such a life is full of value but lacks any wider importance, which is why Nozick recommends against entering this fictional device. Although the two can come apart, ideally they manifest together as
24069-461: The scientific community and philosophy of science communities think that science can provide the relevant context, and set of parameters necessary for dealing with topics related to the meaning of life. In their view, science can offer a wide range of insights on topics ranging from the science of happiness to death anxiety . Scientific inquiry facilitates this through nomological investigation into various aspects of life and reality , such as
24282-461: The ability to acquire resources necessary for reproduction. Sequences with such basic functions probably emerged early in the evolution of life. It has been proposed that both the evolution of macroscopic order in life (including its basic functions) and the evolution of order in particular physical systems obey a common fundamental principle that was termed the Darwinian dynamic. This principal
24495-412: The absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul. It is not by an unbroken succession of drinking bouts and of revelry, not by sexual lust, nor the enjoyment of fish, and other delicacies of a luxurious table, which produce a pleasant life; it is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest tumults take possession of
24708-519: The answer to this question. Opinions vary on the usefulness of using time and resources in the pursuit of an answer. Excessive pondering can be indicative of, or lead to, an existential crisis . The meaning of life can be derived from philosophical and religious contemplation of, and scientific inquiries about, existence , social ties , consciousness , and happiness . Many other issues are also involved, such as symbolic meaning , ontology , value , purpose , ethics , good and evil , free will ,
24921-515: The argument that most individual humans lack cosmic significance, given the sheer number of humans in existence. However, there may be some exceptions to this rule for individuals with a special world-historic impact, like Buddha or Mandela on the positive side, or Hitler and Stalin on the negative side. Nonetheless, the lack of cosmic importance of most people does not entail that they lack any importance whatsoever: they usually make some form of value difference in their own domain. This difference
25134-413: The best life from an ethical point of view. An example of this might be a utilitarian who is fully committed to maximizing the well-being of everyone in their sphere of influence and gives precedence to this goal over all other goals. In the context of the meaning of life , theorists often discuss the question of whether human life has significance on a cosmic scale. Something has cosmic importance if it
25347-414: The case even if the causal influence of this life on other star systems was negligible. Or on a small scale, a short period of extraordinary suffering before death may significantly affect the overall value of someone's life even if it does not have any wider causal impact. Many of the counterexamples raised against the causal impact view suggest that something else besides or instead of the causal influence
25560-421: The causal impact view, all that matters is the extent of the causal impact a thing has in its domain or on the world at large. Many theorists require as an additional element that this impact affects the intrinsic value of the world, often in terms of promoting someone's well-being . The difference between these views matters for various issues. For example, it has been argued that human life lacks importance on
25773-405: The chances of survival for the individual organism and its descendants respectively. Non-cellular replicating agents, notably viruses , are generally not considered to be organisms because they are incapable of independent reproduction or metabolism. This classification is problematic, though, since some parasites and endosymbionts are also incapable of independent life. Astrobiology studies
25986-401: The complexity of real-world situations. Importance is a property of entities that make a difference in the world. So for something to be important, it has to impact the world around it. For example, World War II was an important event in history both because of the suffering it caused and because of the long-term political changes it affected. Or in the field of medicine , Alexander Fleming
26199-399: The concept by comparing it with various related concepts, such as " meaningfulness ", "value", "significance", or "caring". The elucidation happens by pointing out their commonalities and differences. However, such an approach is not unproblematic since these terms are sometimes also used as synonyms. The terms "importance" and "meaningfulness" are closely related. Especially in discussions of
26412-476: The concept of values to understand issues like social cohesion and conflict , the norms and practices people follow, and collective action . They usually understand values as subjective attitudes possessed by individuals and shared in social groups. According to this view, values are beliefs or priorities about goals worth pursuing that guide people to act in certain ways. This subjective conception of values as aspects of individuals and social groups contrasts with
26625-470: The consequences of an action in terms of well-being are important for its moral value. Various Kantians are opposed to this view by holding that all that matters on the moral level is the motivation for the action. Importance is a normative property . This means that importance claims constitute reasons for actions, emotions , and other attitudes. People are usually justified to give preferential treatment to things that are important to them. So if something
26838-485: The context of world history . Other examples are the importance of physical exercise in the context of personal health or the importance of the Scientific Revolution in the context of technological discoveries. The property of importance has a comparative aspect in this regard: something is important in a domain compared to the other objects within this domain. This is justified by the fact that it makes
27051-440: The context of the meaning of life concerns the question of whether human life is important on the cosmic level. Nihilists and absurdists usually give a negative response to this question. This pessimistic outlook can in some cases cause an existential crisis . In the field of artificial intelligence , implementing artificial reasoning to assess the importance of information poses a significant challenge when trying to deal with
27264-425: The contrast between absolute and relative value. Absolute value, also called value simpliciter , is a form of unconditional value. A thing has relative value if its value is limited to certain considerations or viewpoints. One form of relative value is restricted to the type of an entity, expressed in sentences like "That is a good knife" or "Jack is a good thief". This form is known as attributive goodness since
27477-438: The corresponding objective importance. He thinks that a form of spiritual development is necessary to overcome this problem and associates it with mysticism and religion . It consists of a gradual move to a more realistic perspective about one's unimportance in the world as a whole. According to Bernard Williams , importance is closely related to so-called deliberative priority but not identical to it. Deliberative priority
27690-414: The corresponding value. Closely related to this issue is the role of importance in psychology , specifically in moral psychology . There are innumerous entities in the world together with a vast number of ways of interacting with them at any moment. Considerations of the relative importance of these entities and possible actions help the individual simplify this complexity. This happens by focusing only on
27903-402: The counterfactual comparison to what would have been the case otherwise. So in this regard, it has been argued that there are cases of valuable activities without importance and maybe even of important activities without value. According to Robert Nozick , the game of chess is an example of value without importance. It has value because of its beautiful and intriguing structures even though it
28116-545: The course of action demanded by morality since they ascribe more importance to factors outside the moral domain. So people care about many other things besides ethics, such as luxury, friendship, knowledge , and well-being . For example, a job applicant may lie about their qualifications because getting the job is more important to them than their moral obligation to refrain from lying. Nonetheless, there may be some people for whom these two dimensions coincide. This applies to individuals who have made it their highest purpose to lead
28329-411: The cultivation of characteristic human abilities. Value pluralism holds that there are diverse sources of intrinsic value, raising the issue of whether values belonging to different types are comparable. Value theorists employ various methods of inquiry , ranging from reliance on intuitions and thought experiments to the description of first-person experience and the analysis of language. Ethics
28542-410: The degree of impact that the entity makes. An entity is important within a domain if it makes a bigger impact than most of the other entities belonging to the domain. Importance is a very basic concept and most people have an intuitive familiarity and understanding of it. But it has proven difficult to give a clear and non-circular definition of it. For this reason, many theorists have tried to elucidate
28755-402: The desire for importance is closely related to the desire of leading a meaningful life . So to become important by accidentally bumping into something and thereby causing an unintended butterfly effect would not satisfy this desire for most people. Similarly, having important effects, not through actions, but by refraining from actions, usually also does not qualify as fulfilling this desire. So
28968-418: The difference between actually needing something and merely believing that one needs it. Ideally, the two coincide: people care about what is important to them. The relation between caring and importance is also central to Ernst Tugendhat's later philosophy. He holds that there is a natural human tendency to take oneself and one's goals too important, i.e. to care too much about various personal issues that lack
29181-500: The effect that having a big causal impact is neither sufficient nor necessary for importance. For example, it has been argued that the invention of a device that can bring about cosmic changes to the orbits of planets in faraway galaxies would not be important if these changes had no impact on anyone's well-being. Or in analogy to The Myth of Sisyphus : if rolling a rock up a hill on earth is pointless, then one cannot simply increase its importance by multiplying its causal impact. So doing
29394-418: The evaluation, such as character traits . Values are often understood as degrees that cover positive and negative magnitudes corresponding to good and bad. The term value is sometimes restricted to positive degrees to contrast with the term disvalue for the negative degrees. The terms better and worse are used to compare degrees, but it is controversial whether this is possible in all cases. Evaluation
29607-565: The existence of universals . His theory of forms proposes that universals do not physically exist, like objects, but as heavenly forms. In the dialogue of the Republic , the character of Socrates describes the Form of the Good . His theory on justice in the soul relates to the idea of happiness relevant to the question of the meaning of life. In Platonism , the meaning of life is in attaining
29820-542: The existence of these phenomena, parapsychologists have orchestrated various experiments, but successful results might be due to poor experimental controls and might have alternative explanations. Reker and Wong define personal meaning as the "cognizance of order, coherence and purpose in one's existence, the pursuit and attainment of worthwhile goals, and an accompanying sense of fulfillment" (p. 221). In 2016, Martela and Steger defined meaning as coherence, purpose, and significance. In contrast, Wong has proposed
30033-524: The existence of values but denies that they are mind-independent. According to this view, the mental states of individuals determine whether an object has value, for instance, because individuals desire it. A similar view is defended by existentialists like Jean-Paul Sartre , who argued that values are human creations that endow the world with meaning. Subjectivist theories say that values are relative to each subject, whereas more objectivist outlooks hold that values depend on mind in general rather than on
30246-434: The expense of higher values. Radical pluralists reject this approach, putting more emphasis on diversity by holding that different types of values are not comparable with each other. This means that each value type is unique, making it impossible to determine which one is superior. Some value theorists use radical pluralism to argue that value conflicts are inevitable, that the gain of one value cannot always compensate for
30459-419: The extent that it affects someone's well-being. According to Harry Frankfurt , this can be understood in terms of needs : a thing becomes important because some sentient being needs it. In this context, a person needs something if they will be inevitably harmed unless they have it. For example, food and shelter are important to humans because they suffer if they do not have them. Abraham Maslow holds that there
30672-409: The extent that they cause value differences. Some theorists, however, defend a pure value impact account by not including causation as a requirement. A central aspect of the value impact view is how intrinsic or final value is understood. Many theorists in this field have argued for some form of welfarism . On this account, final value consists in the well-being of someone and a thing is important to
30885-480: The fields of cognitive science , neuroscience (e.g. the neuroscience of free will ) and philosophy of mind , though some evolutionary biologists and theoretical physicists have also made several allusions to the subject. Reductionistic and eliminative materialistic approaches, for example the Multiple Drafts Model , hold that consciousness can be wholly explained by neuroscience through
31098-629: The final value of the well-being of many people affected. Bernard Williams differentiates between two senses of importance: a thing may be important relative to someone or important in an unrestricted sense. The former sense can be expressed by stating that the person finds the thing in question important. For example, it may be of personal importance to a stamp collector to finally acquire the Two-Cent Blue Hawaiian Missionary stamp. The collector finds this goal important but it lacks importance in an unrestricted sense. Besides
31311-436: The good life and successful living. They disagree, however, about the meaning of happiness. Antisthenes , a pupil of Socrates , first outlined the themes of Cynicism, stating that the purpose of life is living a life of Virtue which agrees with Nature . Happiness depends upon being self-sufficient and master of one's mental attitude; suffering is the consequence of false judgments of value, which cause negative emotions and
31524-451: The highest form of knowledge, which is the Idea ( Form ) of the Good, from which all good and just things derive utility and value. Aristotle , an apprentice of Plato , was another early and influential philosopher, who argued that ethical knowledge is not certain knowledge (such as metaphysics and epistemology ), but is general knowledge. Because it is not a theoretical discipline,
31737-512: The importance of something often determines how one should act towards this thing, for example, by paying attention to it or by protecting it. In this regard, importance is a normative property , meaning that importance claims constitute reasons for actions, emotions, and other attitudes. On a psychological level, considerations of the relative importance of the aspects of a situation help the individual simplify its complexity by only focusing on its most significant features. A central discussion in
31950-404: The importance of the thing: the more important it is, the higher the adequate degree of caring. This has a direct impact on how one behaves towards this thing: what a person cares about is what guides this person's conduct and affects how they live their life. It involves both agency and a rudimentary form of self-consciousness : to care about something is to be invested in it and to identify with
32163-479: The individual mind. A different position accepts that values are mind-independent but holds that they are reducible to other facts, meaning that they are not a fundamental part of reality. One form of reductionism maintains that a thing is good if it is fitting to favor this thing, regardless of whether people actually favor it. The strongest form of realism says that value is a fundamental part of reality and cannot be reduced to other aspects. Various theories about
32376-512: The individual's normal functioning in everyday life. Usually, nihilism, absurdism, and existential crises are defined, not in terms of importance, but in terms of meaning: they are concerned with the impression that life is meaningless. However, many theorists hold that this also implies a lack of importance and a few theorists even define these phenomena in terms of a lack of importance or significance. People often ascribe high importance to power , material wealth , and fame. Power may be defined as
32589-409: The individual. Traditionally, most value theorists see absolute value as the main topic of value theory and focus their attention on this type. Nonetheless, some philosophers, like Peter Geach and Philippa Foot , have argued that the concept of absolute value by itself is meaningless and should be understood as one form of relative value. Other classifications of values have been proposed without
32802-465: The limits of one's desires. Combined, freedom from pain and freedom from fear are happiness in its highest form. Epicurus' lauded enjoyment of simple pleasures is quasi-ascetic "abstention" from sex and the appetites: "When we say ... that pleasure is the end and aim, we do not mean the pleasures of the prodigal or the pleasures of sensuality, as we are understood to do, by some, through ignorance, prejudice or willful misrepresentation. By pleasure, we mean
33015-481: The long-term gain of delayed gratification; denial is unpleasant unhappiness. Epicurus , a pupil of the Platonist Pamphilus of Samos, taught that the greatest good is in seeking modest pleasures, to attain tranquility and freedom from fear ( ataraxia ) via knowledge, friendship, and virtuous, temperate living; bodily pain ( aponia ) is absent through one's knowledge of the workings of the world and of
33228-399: The loss of another, and that some ethical dilemmas are irresolvable. For example, philosopher Isaiah Berlin applied this idea to the values of liberty and equality , arguing that a gain in one cannot make up for a loss in the other. Similarly, philosopher Joseph Raz said that it is often impossible to compare the values of career paths, like when choosing between becoming a lawyer or
33441-1044: The meaning of life is to maximize pleasure and to ease general life, then this allows normative predictions about how to act to achieve this. Likewise, some ethical naturalists advocate a science of morality —the empirical pursuit of flourishing for all conscious creatures. Experimental philosophy and neuroethics research collects data about human ethical decisions in controlled scenarios such as trolley problems . It has shown that many types of ethical judgment are universal across cultures, suggesting that they may be innate, whilst others are culture-specific. The findings show actual human ethical reasoning to be at odds with most philosophical theories, for example consistently showing distinctions between action by cause and action by omission which would be absent from utility-based theories. Cognitive science has theorized about differences between conservative and liberal ethics and how they may be based on different metaphors from family life such as strong fathers vs nurturing mother models. Neurotheology
33654-418: The meaning of life, they are often used in overlapping ways. For example, the desire to lead a meaningful life frequently corresponds to the desire to live an important life. Nonetheless, it has been argued that the two can come apart, i.e. that there are meaningful lives that lack importance and important lives that lack meaning. One motivation for drawing such a distinction is that seeking deeper meaning in life
33867-517: The mind. Explaining the process of free will through quantum phenomena is an alternative to determinism . Based on the premises of non-materialistic explanations of the mind, some have suggested the existence of a cosmic consciousness , asserting that consciousness is actually the "ground of all being". Proponents of this view cite accounts of paranormal phenomena, primarily extrasensory perceptions and psychic powers, as evidence for an incorporeal higher consciousness . In hopes of proving
34080-429: The money people are willing to pay for it. Economic theories of value are frameworks to explain how economic value arises and which factors influence it. Prominent frameworks include the classical labor theory of value and the neo-classical marginal theory of value . The labor theory, initially developed by the economists Adam Smith and David Ricardo , distinguishes between use value —the utility or satisfaction
34293-418: The more important something is, the bigger the difference it makes. According to the causal impact view, a thing is important if it has a sufficiently big causal impact on a large scale. This view has a strong initial plausibility since it is true for many events we see as important. It is reflected in the intuition that, to become important, one must interact with the world and change it. For example, Napoleon
34506-421: The most important factors and deliberating the relative worth of each possible goal when deciding what to do. In the case of rational choice theory , for example, this is realized by making a cost-benefit analysis to determine the significance of each option. According to Harry Frankfurt , there is a difference between what is important to us and what is morally right. For example, an agent may decide against
34719-530: The most important. Many are pluralistic in recognizing a diverse array of human excellences, such as knowledge, creativity, health, beauty, free agency, and moral virtues like benevolence and courage. According to one suggestion, there are two main fields of human goods: theoretical abilities responsible for understanding the world and practical abilities responsible for interacting with it. Some perfectionists provide an ideal characterization of human nature, holding that human excellences are those aspects that promote
34932-451: The nature, sources, and types of values in general. Some philosophers understand value theory as a subdiscipline of ethics. This is based on the idea that what people should do is affected by value considerations but not necessarily limited to them. Another view sees ethics as a subdiscipline of value theory. This outlook follows the idea that ethics is concerned with moral values affecting what people can control, whereas value theory examines
35145-488: The object of all endeavor [...] Everything is done with a goal, and that goal is "good". Yet, if action A is done towards achieving goal B, then goal B also would have a goal, goal C, and goal C also would have a goal, and so would continue this pattern, until something stopped its infinite regression . Aristotle's solution is the Highest Good , which is desirable for its own sake. It is its own goal. The Highest Good
35358-416: The one hand, and importance, on the other hand. For example, power by itself does not lead to importance if it is not used at all or not used in a fruitful way. And the same is true for wealth and money: they can be used to affect important changes but they can also be wasted without any lasting effect. In this regard, the successful pursuit of money alone does not guarantee that one leads an important life. And
35571-776: The overall value of the world. One motivation for value pluralism is the observation that people value diverse types of things, including happiness, friendship, success, and knowledge. This diversity becomes particularly prominent when people face difficult decisions between competing values, such as choosing between friendship and career success. Since monists accept only one source of intrinsic value, they explain this observation by holding that other items in this diversity have only instrumental value or, in some cases, no value at all. Pluralists have proposed various accounts of how their view affects practical decisions. Rational decisions often rely on value comparisons to determine which course of action should be pursued. Some pluralists discuss
35784-764: The participants' lives, aiming to understand the relative importance assigned to each of them. The Schwartz theory of basic human values is a modification of the Rokeach Value Survey that seeks to provide a more cross-cultural and universal assessment. It arranges the values in a circular manner to reflect that neighboring values are compatible with each other, such as tradition and security, while values on opposing sides may conflict with each other, such as tradition and self-direction. Ethics and value theory are overlapping fields of inquiry. Ethics studies moral phenomena, focusing on how people should act or which behaviors are morally right. Value theory investigates
35997-520: The person. The idea behind this view is that, by starting to care about something, this thing becomes important to the person even if it was unimportant to them before. This can be understood in the sense that the caring attitude causes a need and thereby ties the thing to the person's well-being. A similar view is defended by Matthew Smith, who argues from a third-person perspective that a thing becomes important or morally significant if someone cares about it. This caring attitude by one person then acts as
36210-425: The perspective of individual agents and societal systems. Economists view evaluations as a driving force underlying economic activity. They use the notion of economic value and related evaluative concepts to understand decision-making processes, resource allocation, and the impact of policies. The economic value or benefit of a commodity is the advantage it provides to an economic agent , often measured in terms of
36423-511: The perspectives of ethics and value theory, asserting that the rightness of an action depends on the value of its consequences. Consequentialists compare possible courses of action, saying that people should follow the one leading to the best overall consequences. The overall consequences of an action are the totality of its effects, or how it impacts the world by starting a causal chain of events that would not have occurred otherwise. Distinct versions of consequentialism rely on different theories of
36636-457: The phenomenological method is to suspend preconceived ideas and judgments to understand the essence of experiences as they present themselves to consciousness. The analysis of concepts and ordinary language is another method of inquiry. By examining terms and sentences used to talk about values, value theorists aim to clarify their meanings, uncover crucial distinctions, and formulate arguments for and against axiological theories. For example,
36849-403: The policy is positive or negative. Axiological utilitarianism accepts the additivity principle, saying that the total value is simply the sum of all individual values. Axiological egalitarians are not only interested in the sum total of value but also in how the values are distributed. They argue that an outcome with a balanced advantage distribution is better than an outcome where some benefit
37062-537: The positive and negative aspects of their existence and thus the value and meaning they place on their lives. For example, depressive realism posits an exaggerated positivity in all except those experiencing depressive disorders who see life as it truly is, and David Benatar theorises that more weight is generally given to positive experiences, providing bias towards an over-optimistic view of life. Emerging research shows that meaning in life predicts better physical health outcomes. Greater meaning has been associated with
37275-626: The possibility of different forms of life on other worlds, including replicating structures made from materials other than DNA. All forms of life that are in existence today possess a self-replicating informational molecule (genome), and such an informational molecule is presumably intrinsic to life. Thus the earliest forms of life also likely possessed a self-replicating informational molecule, possibly RNA or perhaps an informational molecule more primitive than RNA. The specific genomic sequences in all currently extant organisms contain order generating information that promotes survival, reproduction , and
37488-420: The possible consequences and gain insight into the underlying problem. For example, philosopher Robert Nozick imagines an experience machine that can virtually simulate an ideal life. Based on his observation that people would not want to spend the rest of their lives in this pleasurable simulation, Nozick argues against the hedonist claim that pleasure is the only source of intrinsic value. According to him,
37701-459: The potentialities of reason, and universal ideals of love and compassion gave way to civic notions of freedom, equality, and citizenship. Axiology#Intrinsic value Value theory is the systematic study of values . Also called axiology , it examines the nature, sources, and types of values. As a branch of philosophy , it has interdisciplinary applications in fields such as economics , sociology , anthropology , and psychology . Value
37914-585: The process by which living entities decrease their internal entropy at the expense of some form of energy taken in from the environment. Biologists generally agree that lifeforms are self-organizing systems which regulate their internal environments as to maintain this organized state , metabolism serves to provide energy, and reproduction causes life to continue over a span of multiple generations. Typically, organisms are responsive to stimuli and genetic information changes from generation to generation, resulting in adaptation through evolution; this optimizes
38127-414: The question of whether an individual should murder an innocent person if this prevents the murder of two innocent people by a different perpetrator. The agent-neutral perspective tends to affirm this idea since one murder is preferable to two. The agent-relative perspective tends to reject this conclusion, arguing that the initial murder should be avoided since it negatively impacts the agent-relative value of
38340-463: The question, "What is the meaning of my life?" The first English use of the expression "meaning of life" appears in Thomas Carlyle 's Sartor Resartus (1833–1834), book II chapter IX, " The Everlasting Yea ". Our Life is compassed round with Necessity; yet is the meaning of Life itself no other than Freedom, than Voluntary Force: thus have we a warfare; in the beginning, especially,
38553-558: The realization of this goal. This view is exemplified in Aristotle 's focus on rationality as the nature and ideal state of human beings. Non-humanistic versions extend perfectionism to the natural world in general, arguing that excellence as a source of intrinsic value is not limited to the human realm. Monist theories of value assert that there is only a single source of intrinsic value. They agree that various things have value but maintain that all fundamentally good things belong to
38766-478: The relation between personal and impersonal value. The agglomerative theory says that impersonal value is nothing but the sum of all personal values. Another view understands impersonal value as a specific type of personal value taken from the perspective of the universe as a whole. Agent-relative value is sometimes contrasted with personal value as another person-specific limitation of the evaluative outlook. Agent-relative values affect moral considerations about what
38979-411: The restriction to people, importance claims may also be restricted to certain domains. In this sense, a fact may be aesthetically important even though it bears no importance in the domain of morality. A closely related distinction is drawn by Ernst Tugendhat, who talks of importance relative to someone in contrast to importance in an absolute or objective sense. In the first meaning, importance refers to
39192-508: The roots of value theory reach back to the ancient period , this area of thought was only conceived as a distinct discipline in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the term axiology was coined. The terms value theory and axiology are usually used as synonyms but some philosophers distinguish between them. According to one characterization, axiology is a subfield of value theory that limits itself to theories about what things are valuable and how valuable they are. The term timology
39405-671: The same is true for power: it depends on how it is exercised, just having it is not sufficient. Many people desire to be famous. Fame and importance are closely associated with each other: famous people are usually important and important people are usually famous. However, the meanings of these terms are not identical. The fame of a person depends on various factors. These include how many people know about this person, how much they know about them, and how positively they evaluate them. This evaluative aspect can be used to distinguish famous persons from celebrities : celebrities are well known in their domain but this does not imply that they are seen in
39618-477: The same thing not just for one rock, but for billions of rocks across the galaxy, is equally pointless. Other counterexamples aim to show that, at least in a few cases, a large causal impact is not necessary for importance. For example, it has been argued that if there was sentient life in Alpha Centauri , its intrinsic value would significantly affect the overall importance of Alpha Centauri. This would be
39831-423: The same type. For example, hedonists hold that nothing but pleasure has intrinsic value, while desire theorists argue that desire satisfaction is the only source of fundamental goodness. Pluralists reject this view, contending that a simple single-value system is too crude to capture the complexity of the sphere of values. They say that diverse sources of value exist independently of one another, each contributing to
40044-457: The self. Large-data studies of flow experiences have consistently suggested that humans experience meaning and fulfillment when mastering challenging tasks and that the experience comes from the way tasks are approached and performed rather than the particular choice of task. For example, flow experiences can be obtained by prisoners in concentration camps with minimal facilities, and occur only slightly more often in billionaires. A classic example
40257-448: The soul." The Epicurean meaning of life rejects immortality and mysticism; there is a soul, but it is as mortal as the body. There is no afterlife , yet, one need not fear death, because "Death is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved, is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us." Zeno of Citium , a pupil of Crates of Thebes , established the school which teaches that living according to reason and virtue
40470-442: The source, beneficiary, and function of the value. A thing has intrinsic or final value if it is good in itself or good for its own sake. This means that it is good independent of external factors or outcomes. A thing has extrinsic or instrumental value if it is useful or leads to other good things. In other words, it is a means to bring about a desired end. For example, tools like microwaves or money have instrumental value thanks to
40683-512: The sources of value have been proposed. They aim to clarify what kinds of things are intrinsically good. The historically influential theory of hedonism states that how people feel is the only source of value. More specifically, it says that pleasure is the only intrinsic good and pain is the only intrinsic evil. According to this view, everything else only has instrumental value to the extent that it leads to pleasure or pain, including knowledge, health, and justice. Hedonists usually understand
40896-438: The sources of value. Classical utilitarianism , a prominent form of consequentialism, says that moral actions produce the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest number of people. It combines a consequentialist outlook on right action with a hedonist outlook on pleasure as the only source of intrinsic value. Economics is a social science studying how goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed, both from
41109-476: The term pleasure in a broad sense that covers all kinds of enjoyable experiences, including bodily pleasures of food and sex as well as more intellectual or abstract pleasures, like the joy of reading a book or being happy about a friend's promotion. Pleasurable experiences come in degrees, and hedonists usually associate their intensity and duration with the magnitude of value they have. Many hedonists identify pleasure and pain as symmetric opposites, meaning that
41322-401: The terms intrinsic value and final value interchangeably, just like the terms extrinsic value and instrumental value . This practice has been questioned in the 20th century based on the idea that they are similar but not identical concepts. According to this view, a thing has intrinsic value if the source of its value is an intrinsic property , meaning that the value does not depend on how
41535-542: The thesis that life, or the world as a whole, is absurd. That means that there is a conflict between the internal human desire for things to matter that is frustrated by the external lack of significance belonging to the nature of the world. Accepting the absurdist or nihilist perspective on the world may trigger an existential crisis . An existential crisis is an inner conflict in which the perceived lack of any importance causes various negative experiences , such as stress , anxiety , despair, and depression , which can disturb
41748-455: The thing is related to other objects. Extrinsic value, by contrast, depends on external relations . This view sees instrumental value as one type of extrinsic value based on causal relations. At the same time, it allows that there are other types of non-instrumental extrinsic value. Final value is understood as what is valued for its own sake, independent of whether intrinsic or extrinsic properties are responsible. Another distinction relies on
41961-471: The thought experiment shows that the value of an authentic connection to reality is not reducible to pleasure. Phenomenologists provide a detailed first-person description of the experience of values. They closely examine emotional experiences, ranging from desire, interest, and preference to feelings in the form of love and hate. However, they do not limit their inquiry to these phenomena, asserting that values permeate experience at large. A key aspect of
42174-498: The two overlap: people subjectively care about objectively important things. Nonetheless, the two may come apart when people care about unimportant things or fail to care about important things. Some theorists distinguish between instrumental importance relative to a specific goal in contrast to a form of importance based on intrinsic or final value . A closely related distinction is between importance relative to someone and absolute or unrestricted importance. The concept of importance
42387-464: The underlying value attitudes responsible for picking one course of action rather than another. Various catalogs or scales of values have been proposed to measure value priorities. The Rokeach Value Survey considers a total of 36 values divided into two groups: instrumental values, like honesty and capability, which serve as means to promote terminal values, such as freedom and family security. It asks participants to rank them based on their impact on
42600-415: The unique qualities of human life. In this regard, Earth is the only place with sentient life we know of. And humanity seems to have an even more special place due to its highly developed mind . Guy Kahane calls this the solitary significance argument . It states that terrestrial life has cosmic significance because it is the only thing in the universe with intrinsic value and thus makes a value difference to
42813-444: The universe, and implicitly of humanity, is hypothesized as one in which biological life will eventually become unsustainable, such as through a Big Freeze , Big Rip , or Big Crunch . Theoretical cosmology studies many alternative speculative models for the origin and fate of the universe beyond the Big Bang theory. A recent trend has been models of the creation of 'baby universes' inside black holes , with our own Big Bang being
43026-429: The universe. This argument can be extended specifically to human life by arguing that among the sentient beings, humans have the greatest value and have, therefore, a special form of cosmic significance. The other side of this argument is that the existence of other intelligent lifeforms would threaten our cosmic significance. And while the human species as a whole may have cosmic significance, it also seems to follow from
43239-491: The useful functions they perform. In some cases, the thing produced this way has itself instrumental value, like when using money to buy a microwave. This can result in a chain of instrumentally valuable things in which each link gets its value by causing the following link. Intrinsically valuable things stand at the endpoint of these chains and ground the value of all the links that come before them. One suggestion to distinguish between intrinsic and instrumental value relies on
43452-411: The value distinguish between self- and other-oriented values. A historically influential approach identifies three spheres of value: truth , goodness, and beauty. For example, the neo-Kantian philosopher Wilhelm Windelband characterizes them as the highest goals of consciousness , with thought aiming at truth, will aiming at goodness, and emotion aiming at beauty. A similar view, proposed by
43665-422: The value of pleasure balances out the disvalue of pain if they have the same intensity. However, some hedonists reject this symmetry and give more weight to avoiding pain than to experiencing pleasure. Although it is widely accepted that pleasure is valuable, the hedonist claim that it is the only source of value is controversial. Desire theories offer a slightly different account, stating that desire satisfaction
43878-525: The word lebenssinn , translated as life's meaning, had been used by Goethe in a 1796 letter to Schiller . These authors grappled with the rationalism and materialism of modernity. Carlyle called this the "Torch of Science", which burned "more fiercely than ever" and made religion "all parched away, under the Droughts of practical and spiritual Unbelief", resulting in the " Wilderness " of "the wide World in an Atheistic Century". Arthur Schopenhauer
44091-400: The word "good" modifies the meaning of another term. To be attributively good as a certain type means to possess certain qualities characteristic of that type. For example, a good knife is sharp and a good thief has the skill of stealing without getting caught. Attributive goodness contrasts with predicative goodness. The sentence "Pleasure is good" is an example since the word good is used as
44304-422: The workings of the brain and its neurons , thus adhering to biological naturalism . On the other hand, some scientists, like Andrei Linde , have considered that consciousness , like spacetime , might have its own intrinsic degrees of freedom, and that one's perceptions may be as real as (or even more real than) material objects. Hypotheses of consciousness and spacetime explain consciousness in describing
44517-428: The world as a whole may fall into this category. However, various theorists have expressed doubts that anything is significant enough to fall into this category. On the other side of the spectrum, almost anything has importance if a very specific and trivial context is chosen correspondingly. One heuristic to determine the importance of something relative to a domain is to ask how detailed this thing would be treated by
44730-458: Was an important person because he discovered penicillin and thereby made a difference to the health of many people since then. Things that lack importance, on the other hand, could be removed without affecting any significant change to the world. Nonetheless, it seems that making a difference is not sufficient: even unimportant things usually make differences, however trivial they may be. An uncontroversial but circular definition holds that something
44943-426: Was formulated by considering, first, how macroscopic order is generated in a simple physical, non-biological system far from thermodynamic equilibrium, and then extending consideration to short RNA replicating molecules and then further to more complex forms of life. It was concluded that the fundamental order-generating process was basically similar for both types of process. Thus the idea that life likely emerged as
45156-431: Was objectively important due to his scientific discoveries. This is different from the fact that, presumably, Albert Einstein was also important to his mother. Many people desire to be important or to make a difference to the world: they want their existence to matter. This desire is usually paired with the requirement that it is realized through intentional actions that express the values one holds dear. In this regard,
45369-407: Was the first to explicitly ask the question, in an essay entitled "Character". Since a man does not alter , and his moral character remains absolutely the same all through his life; since he must play out the part which he has received, without the least deviation from the character; since neither experience, nor philosophy, nor religion can effect any improvement in him, the question arises, What
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