Welcome to part 2 regarding the subjectivity and objectivity of values and morals. Here’s a quick overview of my ideas, the first three of which were presented in the previous post:

1. Values represent the conditions we wish to see in the world around us.
2. Morals represent the relationship our actions have with our values. Morals can aid or hinder realization of our values.
3. Values are subjective. No values are objectively good or objectively bad. This is the most critical and interesting (IMHO) element to my positions on morality and values.
4. Morals, in contrast, are objectively good or bad, depending on how well or how poorly they assist in realization of values.
5. We make several errors when we make decisions about values and morals.
   1. We can be in error about what our own values are. We can say and even believe that we hold a certain value, when in fact we do not.
   2. We can hold conflicting values without realizing they are in conflict.
   3. We can be mistaken about how effective our morals are at achieving our values.

Today I’ll pickup from the 4^th item:

4. Morals, unlike values, are objectively good or bad.

This one’s fairly simple, since morals represent the activities you choose to achieve your values, it makes sense that actions that help you achieve your morals can be considered objectively good while those that hinder you from achieving them are objectively bad. An example I brought up last week had to do with the Ten Commandments. Many consider the Ten Commandments to be good regardless of any values. They are good either because God says so or because they are just objectively good and God conveys that information through the Commandments.

I feel that the Ten Commandments are only good insofar as they relate to values. If, like me, you value things like peace, then the commandment not to kill is generally a good thing, even though there are some conceivable contexts (extremely few in my opinion) in which killing may be necessary for overall peace or to achieve other values. The commandment to worship “the Lord your God” may be a good moral if pleasing the God you believe exists is a value you hold. Since I value freethought and don’t believe in a God, I consider that commandment immoral.

But while we could hold opposing views about the morality of the Ten Commandments, in the context of values, those morals are objective. The moral commandment to worship God is moral for achieving your value, and immoral for achieving mine. This does not, in my mind, make the moral subjective, only the values.

5. We make several errors regarding values and morals (aka, ethics is hard)

I fear I’m doing something I’ve done in a few essays, which is sputtering to the end of a topic. In this case, I’ve already burned through my most interesting point, point #3, and I’m about to finish with an incomplete brainstorm. Oh well, my blog. It gives my commenters (to date nobody) stuff to criticize, and if you’re like me, criticizing is fun for you. So you’re welcome.

My general feeling about values and morals is that humans aren’t very good with them. Like businesses with poorly formed mission statements, we stumble through life never really articulating what we value. When asked what we value most, very few of us list Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, when that’s probably closer to the truth than what we state as our values. Several times in this set of posts I’ve said that I highly value peace on Earth, but I spend a remarkably small amount of my time working to support it. I spend more time watching football. It’s not that we’re lying to others necessarily, we’re just having trouble identifying our values to ourselves.

We can also hold conflicting values. We have to, to some extent, and we need to balance those values. I value individual freedom to pursue your own happiness however you please, but I don’t value infringing on others’ rights. Clearly there are times when those values have to be reconciled. We may not like to admit it, but there are times when we feel that it’s okay to infringe on someone else’s happiness just a little tiny bit if it will bring us immense happiness. Or consider how we feel it’s okay to outperform a competitor in business or sport or in attracting a mate. We don’t find those to be related to bad values.

I could go on, but I think I need to stop and brainstorm and maybe discuss this with others before rambling on further. In this set of posts, I think I’ve gotten out a few good ideas, but I think it’s getting away from me. I guess I find it fascinating how hard discussions about values and morals and ethics can be, so I’ll post some other random thoughts about it over the next few weeks in between blogging about other topics.

Right now would be a good time to chime in with your thoughts. Maybe you have some better ideas than I do.

🙂