This is a paticularly tough one. These Values pages includes attempts to understand:
- society’s values,
- how different mediums, incentives, and “thought-conventions” affect society’s values,
- how might we best think in a values-first way, so we can create the society we want moving into the future.
Definitions: what do we mean by “values”?
The word “values” means different things to different people, so it’s helpful to specify what the different meanings of “values” are that we will talk about. Here are threee different possible meanings of human “values”:
- What things do I want to have spent the most time doing across my life?
- Behaviours: Some people behave/act in certain ways (honourable, dependable, honest, etc…) because they value those behaviour and ways of being.
- Needs: Humans have core needs such as food, shelter, etc… (If you look into M….’s heirarchy of values, I believe he also specifies higher level needs such as Esteem, Empathy, etc…)
I think that these are all important ways of thinking about values. However, I would say that point 1 above is the most important “value” meaning to think about for people looking to live a “good” life, because if you can understand which things you most value in that sense, you will have a much better idea of what you want to spend your time on throughout your life. You may therefore be more ready when it comes time to make any given decision, and may therefore be more likely to make better decisions.