GENERAL TYPES OF VALUES

There are as many types of values as there are things that people desire, want to have,
do, own, and keep for themselves.(Aynd Rand 1964) It would be impossible to draw up a
complete listing of values, for they are indeed numerous, depending upon the people’s cultures
and traditions (and there are so many races).
Enumerated below are human values in various realms, interests, concerns, undertakings,
and pursuits alongside their meanings and examples. (Timbreza, 2003).

SET A Types of Values

Appetitive Value

This refers to the desirable nature of food and water that satisfies one’s hunger and thirst. Also
known as survival value, appetitive value is necessary for individual survival. A person is
motivated to work hard and to make sacrifices for the sake of this value. For unless one can
procure the value of food and water, one may not appreciate other types of values. For an
impoverished individual, for example, the biblical injunction “ Man does not live by bread
alone” has no value at all, precisely because, in the first place, he has no “bread” to speak of.
The said injunction becomes meaningful for one who has enough bread as he realizes that
he wants and desires something more than what “bread” can give; he feels the insufficiency of
bread. Bu for one who does not have enough bread, his first priority is the value of food and
water for his own survival. This explains why not a few would resort to stealing, extortion, drug
pushing, graft, and corruption. In other words, many crimes are committed if only to acquire this
appetitive value.
In no case is it our intention to justify wrongdoings perpetrated by people, but only to
point out certain reasons why evil acts, under unfavorable circumstances, are committed. One
can also understand here why value preferences vary from one person to another, depending
upon their own individual needs and living conditions.

Reflection:
Do you really consider appetitive value as man’s priority for survival?
How do you value food that your parents prepare for you? Are you aware how your parents
work hard in order to have this on your table?
Why do some people commit wrongdoings just to acquire appetitive value?
Read some news which show situations on how important food for us, how a person is
motivated to commit wrongdoings in order to acquire appetitive value. .Cut 3 and paste them on
your journal. Write your reactions for at least 7-8 sentences.

SENSUOUS OR SEXUAL VALUE

This corresponds to sexual meaning inasmuch as sexual desire can only be satisfied by
this value. Sexual value consists of the sensuous pleasure which is deemed to be good, hence
desirable. Not only does sensuous pleasure make life worth living, it also makes sufferings, and
to continue living. If and when sexual value is gone, there seems to be nothing more worthwhile
to live for. Sexual value makes things happen. It motivates men and women to work hard to the
bones, to make a lot of sacrifices, to love, and to dream.
Biologically speaking, sexual value makes the perpetuation of the human species
possible. Should all men and women remains celibates, the homo sapiens would become an
endangered species. Sexual value is thus the sustaining essence of human life and the enjoyment
of sensuous pleasure is its own accompanying fringe benefit, designed by the author of nature,
as an incentive for men and women to become copartners in creation.
Less urbane and undisciplined people give priority to sexual value over moral value. It is
no surprise then why many have mistresses, besides sexploitation, incestuous rape, and other
forms of sexual harassment or aggression. The satisfaction of sexual value, therefore, requires
individual restraint, otherwise it becomes inauthentic and dehumanizing; it will become a curse
rather than a blessing.

How does sensuous pleasure make us suffer? Why doe this value make us work hard, and
sacrifice too much?

Aesthetic value
This satisfies individual’s aesthetic desire or one’s disinterested feeling or beholding a
beautiful thing or scenery, and appreciating a work of art. Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Liza, for
example, possesses an aesthetic value that overwhelms a beholder, in the same way that the
beautiful scene of the sun setting at Manila Bay bedazzles and charms a curious tourist in town.
Both the painting and the Manila Bay sunset possess certain sense of desirability that delights
the beholder. That is, anything of aesthetic desire, although aesthetic taste may differ from one
individual to another. This explains why people have their preferred aesthetic values, be they
musical or artistic.

Aesthetic value is so unique in itself that is characterized by the feeling of awe and
disinterestedness, as distinguished from appetitive and sensuous values which are coupled with
the desire or wish to own or possess the source of value itself. Appreciating the human anatomy,
for instance, that is, a human being in the nude, as the greatest masterpiece, obre maestro, of the
Creator, as the greatest wonder, the wonder of all wonders in the world, one is awe-inspired and
delighted by the marvelous ingenuity of divine engineering and architecture that dwarfs all types
of hi-tech inventions in the fields of modern science and Information Technology.
Here the things of aesthetic value is highly appreciated and cherished without any desire
to seize the valued object itself; whereas in the case of appetitive and sexual values, one wishes
and desires to possess, consume, and own the valued objects themselves. That is, an individual in
the nude is viewed as a sexual value that satisfies one’s libidinal profligacy, hence one desires to
possess it. Similarly, a palatable food, being an appetitive value, is intended to be eaten,
masticated, and digested.

Intellectual Value
This fulfills an individual’s intellectual desire. Being the only animal gifted with reason,
man desires to know. He is intellectually curious to discover the reasons, causes, and
explanations of natural occurrences. In fact, his rational nature makes him wonder and restless,
bored and anxious, inasmuch as he is meaning-conscious. His innate desire to know prompts him
to know why he is born, suffers, and then dies. What really is the true meaning of life? Why does
man still have to be born if only to suffer and finally die?
Intellectual value is best exemplified by education which assumes a very high priority in
the value system of the Filipinos. The Filipino is known for his love of learning. Parents work
hard and sacrifice a lot only to be able to send their children to school.
Intellectual value may also take the forms of the discovery of truth, the formulation of
certain scientific theory, and the final resolution of a particular problem that involves intellectual
deliberation. Accordingly, problem solving, class tests, reading, teaching, term paper writing,
doing a research project, and puzzle games that demand intellectual analysis and concentration
have an intellectual value.

Moral Value

Moral value relates to conduct or character viewed from the concept of right and wrong.
It pertains to the goodness or badness of an action, character, disposition, etc. Being rational,
man alone has sense of right and wrong, hence only man has morality. This marks the big
difference between a human being and an animal. Morality makes a human being act as a human
being and its lack of it makes an animal act as an animal.
This truism makes morality a blessing as well as a curse to man; a blessing, a precisely
because, as has been said, only man is moral and so he is supposed to act morally; a curse,
because if he does not act morally (as expected of him), man becomes less human and even
worse than an animal that lacks morality.
From the foregoing, it becomes clear that moral value plays a very significant role not
only in maintaining one’s own dignity as a human being but also in preserving a meaningful
existence with others. In fact, the immeasurable value of morality finds itself in human
relationships. This is so because the human being is a social individual who lives with other
individuals. And without moral value, no social unit or human relationship can ever survive..