The value of human life: definition of the concept, meaning, purpose, features

In theory, all people recognize the value of human life, but when it comes to practical things, people have doubts. Did Hitler deserve to be spared his life if there was such an opportunity? Should a pedophile maniac live or die? These questions affect the main moral values of human life and the idea of whether it is the most important value. Let's talk about what values are, how they are related to the meaning of life and how its value is understood in psychology, philosophy and everyday consciousness.

Concept of value

There is a section in philosophy called axiology, which is entirely devoted to the study of values. Starting from the early stages of its life, humanity has been trying to answer the question of what value is, what is more or less valuable. Over thousands of years, general ideas on this issue have developed. Ordinary consciousness understands value as such a characteristic of a phenomenon as its special significance for an individual, for society or for the entire civilization as a whole.

The study of the problem of values has gone through a long evolution, and today philosophy believes that there are different types and characteristics of them. There is no single point of view on what the nature of values is and whether they can be objective or are always subjective. Thinkers cannot give an unambiguous definition of this concept. In the most general form, philosophers believe that value is a set of spiritual and material objects that satisfy human needs. At the same time, the concept of values is social in nature. Society forms a complex of important objects that contribute to the development of society and the people in it. Value orientation is the most important component in the structure of personality. Through them, a person comes to determine the meaning and value of human life as a whole.

The concept of the value of human life

I came to understand the importance of determining the cost of my life after I began searching the Internet for information related to the topic of my interest. But it turned out that instead of answering the question “the value of human life,” in most cases I was asked to get acquainted with what human life values are.

Of course, this topic deserves great respect and is fully worthy of being paid attention to by the majority of the planet’s population, regardless of where they live and their type of activity. After all, today few people are satisfied with the quality and standard of their lives.

And although it is quite possible that I was simply looking in the wrong place and in the wrong place, it still seems to me that the search and determination of life values is already a consequence in solving the problem of determining the value of a person’s life itself, at least during his stay in prison. earth.

A man determines the weight of coins on a lever scale

As a rule, value is generally understood as a certain importance and significance of an object or phenomenon and is used to describe its individual properties and characteristics. Therefore, regarding human life, this concept is more often used to quantify its material characteristics.

And human life is, in my opinion, not only a way of existence of protein bodies with a constant exchange of substances with the external nature surrounding them, as Friedrich Engels argued, but also something more important (than earthly matter), which is beyond understanding and perceptions of the physical brain.

This is exactly what in religious teachings is usually called the soul and spiritual life of a person. If people have some general knowledge and ideas about material life, then their views about its spiritual aspects diverge very much.

This probably explains all sorts of substitutions in issues that are important to any person. After all, if he understands that the highest value of any person is life itself, and, first of all, spiritual life, then he will begin to ask uncomfortable questions and demand an appropriate attitude towards himself.

Life as a value

On the path of its formation, humanity did not always believe that human life had any special significance. And only humanism as a social phenomenon began to consider human life as the highest value. However, even after this many contradictions remained. Since it can often be sacrificed in the name of other values. And people themselves do not always remember that they possess such a treasure. In practice, the value of human life is deciphered in several basic principles. Firstly, if we consider that this is the most significant and important thing in the world, then we must recognize the right of any person to preserve it. And here again the question arises about the villains and their right to continue to live after taking the lives of other people. The second principle is a thrifty attitude towards any of its manifestations. This means that you need to protect your own life and that of others. And people can harm themselves: smoke, take harmful substances, etc. Another important thing is the need to promote life in all its forms and varieties. Here many insurmountable difficulties arise, for example, with meat-eating, because this is also the destruction of living things. If we consider life to be the main value, then it is necessary to live it in some especially worthy way, otherwise it is wasted. This implies the need to develop a meaningful position and build your life on the foundations of awareness and significance. If we consider existence from this perspective, it turns out that people, declaring the idea that this is the most precious thing a person has, do not actually exist in accordance with this postulate.

Awareness and value of life

So. Let's go further? Shall we go deeper?

What's deeper there? What is beyond all our concepts, all our thoughts?

And there... There is endless freedom, a boundless space of consciousness. That which is not accessible to our mind. Something that is far beyond our understanding, our capabilities of perception.

Our period of earthly existence is incredibly short. By the standards of the universe, this is less than a moment. I hope you have already begun to understand this.

Earthly life is a phantom, it is nothing! We came up with it ourselves, it’s only in our minds. Our soul is infinite and eternal. Sometimes we think that we are moving in space, but is that really true? If we say that I came from such and such a city, then this is an illusion, in fact, you are not moving anywhere, you were in space, you continue to be in it.

Our dimension is unique. Here, thanks to our body and mind, we can experience extraordinary experiences that we cannot get anywhere else.

The value of human life in philosophy

Throughout the history of human civilization, people have wondered what is the most important thing in the world. Ordinary consciousness and age-old wisdom quickly answer it: human life. But philosophers, accustomed to doubting everything, say that there are no objective characteristics according to which existence on earth would in any case be a value. Only religious philosophy believes that the value of human life is determined by its divine origin. People receive it from God and have no right to dispose of it. And secular trends in philosophy and ethics seriously think that a person should have the right to manage his life.

Today, these issues are once again being vigorously discussed and conceptualized with attempts to legalize euthanasia in some countries. At one time, N. Berdyaev wrote that man is the highest value and it is this global value that allows society to integrate into something integral. Usually the question of the value of life in philosophy comes down to the question of its meaningfulness. If a person exists with an understanding of why he is doing this, if he sets some spiritual goals for himself, then his life is valuable, and if there is no meaning, then existence on earth is devalued.

True and false values

For people, various goods in life have unequal value - the point is precisely that everyone can find suitable internal priorities for themselves, and not set themselves short-term goals in life, determined by material wealth and property results.

A person’s values are formed throughout his life. The true nature of values is understood through the experience of experiencing any events. The value of family for a person at each age and in each role will be different. The value of childhood is realized by people already as adults, and then they understand how important childhood is for their own children and how important it is to instill family values from an early age. Sometimes material and intangible values become obvious only in comparison or with the loss of existing benefits: for example, the value of health is realized at the time of illness.

Unfortunately, the values of a modern person have become subject to a competitive, competitive pace and are becoming formalized. The problem of purpose and meaning of life arises, because... a person experiences an internal conflict of values and often does not realize it.

What do psychologists say about this?

Unlike philosophers, psychologists approach this problem differently. They say that people are all different and there cannot be a single universal measurement of the value of their existence on Earth. In their assessment, people usually base their assessments not on objective characteristics, but on subjective ones. And then it turns out that Hitler’s life has no value, but that of a loved one is very important. Psychologists proceed from the fact that the basic values of human life are the basis for personal development. They influence the orientation of the individual, his activities, social position, attitude towards himself, others, and society. Based on his values, a person ranks needs and builds motivation. They determine the interests, worldview and attitudes of the individual. Recognizing life as the most important value, a person chooses goals and formulates the meaning of his existence. Without this, it is impossible to live productively, develop, or interact with other people. Thus, psychologists recognize the high importance of axiology. Only by realizing that life is the main value can a person develop as an integral and productive person.

The role of life values for a person

Subconscious - what is it, definition

Psychologists call the values in a person’s life an “inner compass” against which he checks his daily actions. When there are certain internal attitudes, it is much easier for an individual to make the right decisions and determine his life productively. In turn, they influence the formation of personality in a certain way. How this happens can be concluded using basic traditional schemes:

Love for children and family - responsibility and the ability to care for others are formed.
The desire for a successful career develops determination and discipline.
The need for spiritual development shapes morality and intellect.
The desire to improve health promotes an active lifestyle.
Rejection of deception, betrayal, and meanness is interpreted as the highest manifestations of decency and sincerity.

Important! Personality begins to form in childhood, so it is advisable to become familiar with basic values as early as possible. You shouldn’t think that small children don’t understand anything, the example of adults should be before your eyes, then it will become the norm of life.

Meaning

One way or another, philosophers, psychologists, and ordinary people link two concepts: the meaning and value of human life. Since ancient times, philosophers began to ponder the question of why a person lives. Centuries of reflection have not brought final clarity to this issue. It is recognized that meaning is the essence of all things and phenomena; accordingly, the idea of the existence of meaning in life is generally not in doubt by anyone. However, there is a possibility that a person is not able to comprehend it. His cognitive horizon is quite narrow, and in conditions of information deficiency (and a person does not know everything about life), it is impossible to comprehend the meaning with absolute accuracy. In general, most philosophers and ordinary consciousness agreed that the meaning of life lies in life itself. You need to live in order to live. The variant of meaning as pathfinding is also recognized. A person must look within himself and answer questions about what is most important to him.

Philosopher and psychologist with an amazing destiny Viktor Frankl says that the search for and acquisition of meaning makes a person mentally healthier and wealthier. At the same time, he sees three ways to comprehend life: daily work, awareness of the value of relationships with other people and his experiences associated with another person, and reflection on situations that bring suffering. Thus, to find meaning, a person must fill his time with work and caring for other people, and he must also be aware of experiences and learn from them.

Examples of human life values

To understand the important role of life values, it is useful to more often turn to situations that people do not always notice and consider them ordinary. Here is an example from life: volunteers in orphanages or nursing homes believe that by providing invaluable help to others, they experience deep moral satisfaction. Psychologists explain this by saying that good deeds release hormones of joy (dopamine, serotonin) into the blood. Not everyone can become a volunteer; the values of life should be so high that they see their goal in helping others and feel satisfaction from this.

To achieve knowledge of the priorities that are important to you, psychologists advise starting with something simple, making a list of the most significant ones and implementing them immediately

There are many examples of setting life priorities: for some, the goal may be the desire to conquer mountain peaks, cross oceans, or invent new technologies; for others, the desire for a quiet family life, raising children, or mastering a favorite profession is enough. Still others believe that career, business, success are the true purpose of life.

Psychology gives important, at the same time simple advice to those who are rushing around in search of priorities in their lives. Determining your values is not as easy as it seems at first glance. Therefore, you can start by simply compiling a list of values, then select from it the most significant ones for yourself, which you need to strive for right now.

Target

Awareness of the meaning of life and one’s own basic values helps a person set life goals. The human psyche is structured in such a way that only actual goals can serve as motivation for activity. Therefore, each person, at his own level, answers the question of why he lives. And usually this answer is linked to universal human values. If you ask the average person what is most important in his life and why he lives, then most likely he will answer that the main thing is family and loved ones, and he lives for their well-being and happiness. Thus, the goals and value of human life interact closely with each other. The most common goal is to create a family and continue the family line. This goal is dictated by biology and society. This goal is not truly relevant for every person, which is why people often get divorced and sometimes leave behind the children they once seemed to want so much. Sometimes a person sets a goal for himself, and when he achieves it, he feels disappointed and it seems to him that life has lost its meaning. This often happens to older people who have achieved socially approved goals: education, career, family, but have not listened to their true desires. Therefore, the meaning of our stay in this world is precisely to understand what is necessary and valuable for you and how to achieve really important goals.

Why do we need life values?

Life values are the basis for choices of varying degrees of importance, closely related to our moral and ethical standards. When performing another action, we check it for compliance with life values. If they are compatible, then we feel satisfaction from what we have done: confidence in our actions appears, and we evaluate our life as productive and fulfilling. If, after making a decision, anxiety, irritability, and anger persist, it means that some of the internal values have been violated. Then a person experiences a personal conflict, which affects his mood, self-confidence, and self-esteem.

As you understand, the meaning of internal values is to simplify the decision-making process for a person, to distinguish between “good” and “bad”. When you have something to rely on, it is easier not to make mistakes and get the desired result that will bring satisfaction.

Values

As we have already understood, the meaning of a person’s life is linked to his goals, and they, in turn, correlate with values. Important objects are guiding beacons along the path of life. The main values of human life help a person choose the vector of life movement. They are a kind of core of consciousness and worldview of the individual. At the same time, society strives to develop in people certain universal values that are necessary for society to function effectively and self-preserve. Each era develops its own set of socially significant values, but some universal, universal human values remain: freedom, peace, equality. But each person, in addition to this, forms his own package of important objects, it is their presence that indicates the maturity of the individual. These are called individual values, and they primarily influence a person's daily actions. As they say, your own shirt is closer to your body. There are different types of values, classifying them on different grounds:

— By the degree of versatility. In this case, we talk about universal, group and personal values.

— According to forms of culture. On this basis, material and spiritual values are distinguished.

- By type of activity. In this classification, many types are distinguished, including aesthetic, religious, moral, existential, political, legal, and scientific.

What you should pay attention to:

conscious and unconscious difficulties,
desires and possibilities do not coincide,
dissatisfaction with one's activities,
there is a lack of creative attitude to life and originality of solutions,
feeling of personal or professional failure,
difficulties in setting priorities,
difficulties in achieving goals,
internal conflict of values,
dissatisfaction with oneself.

Life values are material or spiritual priorities that set a goal in a person’s life and determine the ways to achieve it.
It is the internal values of a person that contribute to: maintaining physical and psychological health; self-education, self-education and self-training; development of professional opportunities and career growth, improvement of personal, social, moral and spiritual qualities.

Human life values, types:

Fundamental values:
health as the main value of a person; family and family values; freedom as a value.
Acquired values:
education as a value; material and technical assets; professional values; sociocultural values; moral and spiritual values.

Spiritual and material values

The most common way is to classify values according to the form of culture. And traditionally, all values are divided into material and spiritual. Among the latter, moral and aesthetic ones stand out. What values of human life are the most important? Here opinions are usually divided; some believe that without material values a person is not able to think about the spiritual. Materialists believe that existence determines consciousness. But idealists think exactly the opposite and believe that the main thing is spirituality, and a person can refuse material wealth in the name of high goals. Psychologists also talk about the existence of spiritual materialists who believe that everything in a person’s life should be in balance. Each person considers something different to be material assets, but in general this includes well-being, the presence of real estate and other property. Their peculiarity lies in the so-called alienability, i.e. they can be lost or wasted. But spiritual values are inalienable.

Basic spiritual values

The formed complex of spiritual values testifies to the maturity of the individual. This set allows a person to break out of bodily limitations, gain freedom and take responsibility for his life, its goals, and its meaning. At school, many wrote an essay “What is the value of human life?”, but at this age a person can only begin to think about the vector of his development, and sometimes he does not even begin. A formed worldview, according to the observations of psychologists, usually appears by the age of 20-30, although for some it is much later. Recognition of spiritual values as determining ones in life is a prerequisite for gaining freedom. This type of values usually includes moral and aesthetic values as the most important. In addition, freedom, love, peace, life, justice, are called universal spiritual values.

What determines the choice of life values?

The formation of life values lasts from birth to adulthood. The basic system is laid in early childhood. Until deep maturity, it is constantly supplemented with new life values, the meaning and importance of which we realize in the process of life. Then it remains almost unchanged.

There are several stages in this process:

Family. This is the stage of formation of the child’s internal attitudes, in which the leading role is assigned to parents. They lay the foundations of a system of life values through personal example, reasoning, their behavior, and assessments. The child adopts all this and uses it in adulthood.
Educational establishments. Established beliefs and judgments are formed. Children's trust and respect for teachers opens up new life values for them. A well-known example from life: students are more interested in subjects in which lessons are taught by teachers who are interesting and passionate about their work.
Society. Society dictates its own rules and norms of behavior. Sometimes he condemns and persecutes a person with non-standard views and principles, without confirming his rightness with any arguments. The life values of an individual at this stage are formed either with the acceptance of the laws of society, or in spite of them.
Self-knowledge. This stage is associated with identifying the problem of discrepancy between life values and imposed stereotypes. It involves rethinking your views and beliefs, based on your life experience.

Moral values

Morality is extremely important in human life, it is what makes an individual a person with free choice and responsible choice. Moral values help a person regulate relationships with other people and society. The measure of these relationships is good and evil, and a person decides for himself what he personally considers good and what not. For each person, the set of moral commandments may be different, but there are basic postulates that are the same for all people. They were formulated in religious codes and have undergone few changes over the millennia. However, these values may change depending on the group or professional affiliation of a person. For example, the set of values of human life in biomedical ethics will be interpreted primarily from the point of view of the relationship between doctor and patient. Universal moral values are patriotism, duty, hard work, honor, integrity, and philanthropy.

Aesthetic values

If morality is associated with the assessment of life and its phenomena from the point of view of Good and Evil, then aesthetic values are a consideration of the world through the prism of the Beautiful and the Ugly. The purpose and value of human life are often linked to identifying, experiencing, and creating beauty. Everyone knows F. Dostoevsky’s phrase that beauty will save the world. And people really often strive to make the world around them more beautiful, more harmonious, and see this as their goals and objectives. Philosophers identify the following values in this subgroup: beautiful, sublime, tragic, comic. And their antipodes are the ugly and the base. Aesthetic values are associated with a person’s ability and desire to experience deep and vivid emotions, the ability to sense the harmony of the world, and the ability to perceive shades of feelings and moods of other people and their creations.

Basic life values

Conventionally, life values can be divided into two groups:

Material: money, comfort, home, feeling of financial solvency and stability.
Spiritual:

Family: intimate long-term stable relationships in a couple, procreation, love, a sense of self-need for other people, a sense of community.
Friends and work team: a sense of belonging to a group.
Career: achieving a certain social status, respect from significant people.
Favorite activity: business project or hobby (music, sports, gardening, etc.), discovering your own purpose and talents.
Education and development of any skills, qualities, personal growth.
Health and beauty: slim, good physical shape, absence of diseases.

Both categories intertwine with each other and transform into adjacent values. In the modern world it is difficult to separate material values from spiritual ones. To implement some, the presence of others is necessary. For example, to obtain an education you need a certain financial status that needs to be earned. Money brings financial comfort and the opportunity for leisure and interesting hobbies to the family. Health and beauty also require material investments. The social status of a modern person is largely determined by acquired material wealth. Thus, material values have become an integral part of spiritual ones.

We advise you to read: Relationships and money: there must be a compromise!

Life values are:

1. Universal (cultural). These are people's general ideas about what is good and what is bad. They are formed in childhood, and their development is influenced by the society surrounding a person. The model, as a rule, is the family in which the child was born and grew up. Parents' priorities become fundamental when forming their own value system.

Universal priorities include:

physical health;
life success (education, career, social status, recognition);
family, children, love, friends;
spiritual development;
freedom (of judgment and action);
creative realization.

2. Individual. They are formed in every person throughout life. These are the values that a person stands out from the generally accepted ones and considers important for himself. The priority may be politeness, kindness, faith in people, literacy, good manners and others.

We advise you to read: How to become a good person

Health as a value

A person who treats himself responsibly, understands that life is an important value, and he is obliged to preserve it, thinks about his health. But not only the people themselves, but also society is interested in ensuring that people do not get sick. In axiology, it is customary to distinguish three types of health: moral, physical and mental. Saving each of them is part of the meaningful existence of the individual. Health as the main value of human life is studied by a special branch of philosophy - bioethics. Within its framework, health is conceptualized as an absolute life value. The goal of a person is to maintain health, since it is a condition for achieving all other values. It’s not for nothing that there is a phrase in the Russian language: “If we had health, we’ll buy the rest.”

What are the basic values in life?

Your main priorities in life help define who you are and what is important to you as an individual. It is your values that should determine where you should invest energy , resources and time.

There is no need to mix goals and life values. A goal is what you strive for and what you achieve. When one is achieved, a new goal is set and efforts are made to achieve it.

And values are your conscious manifestation in relationships, at work, in society. Every day you prioritize commitments and there is no end point to completion. Values are practiced throughout life.

They can be defined using simple words or phrases.

Examples:

Health
Novelty
Cognition
Case
Liberty

Each of us has from six to ten personal values . Among these priorities, you need to determine those that will be the most important. The ones that matter most to you.

We change, circumstances change us and values also change over time. They will be different from each other at different periods of life. As you move through life, you will recognize yourself better and grow. Along with changes, priorities will change.

Review your personal values at least once a year.

Love as a value

In philosophy, love is understood as a specific moral and aesthetic feeling, which is expressed in a disinterested desire for a chosen object, in a readiness for dedication, in responsibility towards this object. This is a multifaceted and diverse feeling; it can be felt for the Motherland, people, animals, for some types of activity, for nature. Love is one of the main values of human life, as it is associated with moral and aesthetic experiences. It may be the purpose of existence.

Problems of values in the modern world

Sociologists note that today there is a process of devaluation of universal human values. There is a blurring of ideas about what is important and what is not. There is also a problem with the value of human life, which is associated with the growth of conflicts that result in people dying. European society seeks to spread its values to all world cultures and this leads to intercultural conflict. Today in Europe the process of democratization is reaching its climax, individual values are beginning to prevail over social ones, and this is shaking the system that has been developing for centuries.

The importance of personal values

Values are what people value, what they extol above all else. These are phenomena, ideals or objects from different areas of life that are significant for each of us.

Values highlight what we stand for. It is a part of us, our unique, individual essence. Life priorities reflect our behavior ; they provide each of us with a code of conduct. And we get satisfaction if we follow and honor personal values.

Otherwise, bad habits begin to prevail, the person degrades or returns to childhood to raise self-esteem.