LESSON 3 : CLASSIFICATION OF VALUES

Values are of many types. We speak of economic, aesthetic,

cultural, moral, sentimental, national, professional, political values,
etc. The bewildering variety of values is commonly reduced to
eight areas: morality, religion, science, art, politics, law,
economics, and culture or: economic, affective, biological, social,
intellectual, aesthetic, moral and religious.
In modern treaties, hardly anybody gives the principle from
which such classification results. Thus the classification is merely
pragmatic or positivistic and varies from author to author, although
it must be admitted that some areas of value are common to all.

THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHIES’ CLASSIFICATION OF VALUE

OR GOOD

The ancient philosophers categorized value or good into

three fundamental classifications:

1. Useful or utilitarian good - a thing is useful when some other

things are obtained through it.
2. Pleasurable or delectable good - a thing is pleasurable when it
provides pleasure to the subject.

Note that pleasure can be taken in two senses: (a) broadly,

for any feeling of satisfaction; (b) specifically, for the special
experience of delight, e.g. in the presence of beauty, in the tasting
of a rare and delicate flavor, in the hearing of music, in the sexual
act, in some other heightened sensation or experience. In this
second specific sense, pleasure is almost undefinable; it is intuitive
but it can not fail to be recognized by anyone who experiences it.

When we say that something is good for providing pleasure,

the term is not taken in the broad sense of satisfaction; for in this
sense, every good provides some feeling of satisfaction obtained.
Pleasure is taken in the second specific sense of special delight.
Only some kind of things provide pleasure in this sense; and these
are properly called pleasurable or delectable goods.

3. Befitting or becoming good - a thing is befitting when it

develops, completes or perfects the subject.

The classification of good into useful, pleasurable, and

befitting is not such that the members are mutually exclusive. In
fact, the classifications overlap each other, and some good can fit
into all the three categories at the same time. For instance,
scientific knowledge perfects man insofar as he is a rational being;
it is, therefore, a befitting good. In some cases it provides intense
delight, as in the case of Archimedes when he exclaimed “
Eureka!” When a scientist discovers the conclusive proof of an
original or new theory of his, that moment is a moment of ecstatic
pleasure. It is thus also a pleasurable good. As a consequence of
the scientific discovery, the man gets recognition, promotion, even
financial rewards. Thus, it is also useful good.
The classification, therefore, is not a division of the good into
its different species, but a division of the good into its various
modes. The classification is not univocal but analogical.
It should also be obvious that modern classification fits into
one or another of the members of this threefold division, confirming
that the ancient division is more fundamental than the modern
counterparts.

INTRINSIC AND INSTRUMENTAL VALUES

Another and still more fundamental division of value is that of

intrinsic and instrumental values. Value is worthy of desire in either
of two ways:

A. For its own sake;

B. For the sake of some other good

The former is what we call intrinsic value and the latter,

instrumental value.

Instrumental value is a value or good strived for because of its

worth to us and to others. Intrinsic value, which the German
value-philosophers call Eigenwert, is a value in itself. A good is
either “ good for” some being or “good of” some being. This
distinction has always been recognized by the traditional
philosophy. The scholastic term for instrumental value is bonum
cujus and for intrinsic value, bonum cui.

An instrumental value, however, presupposes something which is

useful or advantageous, something which causes joy or
happiness, therefore, it must already include certain intrinsic value-
qualities to be able to ground its relational effect on the subject.
Take for example the case of a priest who offers himself for the
sick. This is in itself good but at the same time he experiences his
own inner satisfaction therein as an instrumental value. Thus in
every value phenomenon we encounter primarily the intrinsic value
and only secondarily the relational or instrumental value and the
higher the level of value and the richer its fulfillment, the less
important is the resulting relational and achievement aspect of the
value in comparison with the intrinsic aspect.

ACCIDENTAL AND NATURAL HUMAN VALUES

There exist in any and every human individual variables

which traditionally are called accidents. There is likewise in every
human being a constant beneath these variables; I.e. a permanent
core whereby an individual is identifiable as a man which
traditionally is called nature.
The value which befits a man with respect to the accidents
found in him is called accidental value while that which befits man
with regard to the permanent core found in him or his nature is
called natural value. Accidental human values are characterized by
variability, temporality, and impermanence. For example, vigorous
exercise is beneficial to a man who is fit, but definitely detrimental
to one with a cardiac condition. Natural human values befit every
man, in every place, at every time.

Human nature is not a simple but a complex reality, a

microcosm. In man’s nature we can distinguish roughly three main
level.

1. On the lower level is physical or biological life . Life is common

to man and plants and every other physical being. For though life
is not identical to existence, yet life in organisms is the analogue of
existence in inanimate physical things.

What things of themselves befit man as man?

A. Life
B. Food
C. Work

2. On the mid-level man has, in common with brute animals,

sentiency in virtue of which he is capable of experiencing pleasure
and pain. That sentient life is part and parcel of human nature
should be obvious to anyone who considers that a living organism
without senses would be a plant, and a living consciousness
without bodily senses would be a spirit; in neither case would there
be a man.
The behavior of brute animals makes it very clear that
senses are utilized fro the preservation of life. Animals use their
senses to search for food and to avoid harm and danger.
On this level, the chief desires of man are food, which has
been discussed earlier, and sex, with its related factors. Here lie
the roots of the familial rights of man.

A. Sexual mating
B. Marriage
C. Family and the home
D. Parental authority
E. Education

3. The highest level is the level of reason, by which man is able to

do the following:

A. Understand and control nature

B. Guide and control himself
C. Communicate with his fellowmen
D. Communicate with God

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY VALUES

Primary values are values that are chosen, acted upon and
are necessary for the authentic development of man. These are
values which help a human being to develop the best of his
capacity and, as such, motivate him yo move beyond the normal
functioning in society.
Among these values necessary for a person to live creatively
in the world, the first would be self-value or the intrinsic knowledge
that his self worth to others. The second would be the value of
others. To see and affirm the worth of other people encourages
man to reach out.

Obligatory values are what we call secondary values.

For example, children live by the obligatory values set by
their parents. However, as they grow and mature, they gradually
develop their own set of values guided by the basic value structure
transmitted to them by their parents and the culture they live in.
When the authority of parents slowly gives way as children are
able to discriminate and make their value choices, then the
democratic process is at work.