You say they are your "emotions", which I don't think have much to do, directly, with values. I would say we have "desires", which are directly influenced by our emotions, and this might be what you are thinking about.
I find it strange that you don't consider desire an emotion. I seem to remember us having this conversation a while back, and I was equally surprised then. I've always thought of it as an emotion, but I guess if you want to call it something else that's fine... I'm no expert on this subject so I don't know whether it is officially classified as an emotion. At any rate, it's not the only emotion involved in value. Other emotions like empathy and guilt are also heavily involved. Heterosexuality or homosexuality is a clean example. There are no values here, just desires.
I think there are values involved in this if you look at it the right way. Indeed, the issue of gay marriage is often considered a "values" issue in politics. Incidentally, I do not consider abortion a values issue since it is really about whether people believe the soul exists, and if it does at what time it enters the body. I think both pro-lifers and pro-choicers care about preserving life and about freedom of choice, they differ in their understanding of the world. But I do think gay rights is a lot more of an actual values issue. First, the basic difference between a heterosexual and a homosexual is that a homosexual values long term relationships with a same sex partner more than opposite sex, whereas a heterosexual places a very different value on it. Second, many heterosexuals claim to be motivated by "traditional family values" or "preserving marriage" when they try to pass anti gay marriage bills. So it does to some extent come from a conflict of values, although I also think there is an issue of not understanding the facts on the part of the anti-gay marriage crowd... in that, many of them believe God commanded that a man not lie with another man, and therefore they think everyone should obey.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-12-04 08:36 pm (UTC)You say they are your "emotions", which I don't think have much to do, directly, with values. I would say we have "desires", which are directly influenced by our emotions, and this might be what you are thinking about.
I find it strange that you don't consider desire an emotion. I seem to remember us having this conversation a while back, and I was equally surprised then. I've always thought of it as an emotion, but I guess if you want to call it something else that's fine... I'm no expert on this subject so I don't know whether it is officially classified as an emotion. At any rate, it's not the only emotion involved in value. Other emotions like empathy and guilt are also heavily involved.
Heterosexuality or homosexuality is a clean example. There are no values here, just desires.
I think there are values involved in this if you look at it the right way. Indeed, the issue of gay marriage is often considered a "values" issue in politics. Incidentally, I do not consider abortion a values issue since it is really about whether people believe the soul exists, and if it does at what time it enters the body. I think both pro-lifers and pro-choicers care about preserving life and about freedom of choice, they differ in their understanding of the world. But I do think gay rights is a lot more of an actual values issue. First, the basic difference between a heterosexual and a homosexual is that a homosexual values long term relationships with a same sex partner more than opposite sex, whereas a heterosexual places a very different value on it. Second, many heterosexuals claim to be motivated by "traditional family values" or "preserving marriage" when they try to pass anti gay marriage bills. So it does to some extent come from a conflict of values, although I also think there is an issue of not understanding the facts on the part of the anti-gay marriage crowd... in that, many of them believe God commanded that a man not lie with another man, and therefore they think everyone should obey.