Values
Defined Philosophical Theories Pragmatic Approaches Value Criteria
Values Defined
Lincoln-Douglas debate centers around a concept called "values." Most debaters know that they must introduce a value in their construction, but many, even at the state meet, do not have a clear idea of what a value is or how to succeed in supporting one.
- Definition: Value - a concept of relative worth, utility, or importance. (from Webster's Third International Dictionary, 1988)
- Example: We cannot live in the modern world without money. Money is important to use because we use it to acquire food, clothing, and shelter. It is also significant because it improves our standard of living allowing us to enjoy life. Therefore, money is said to have value.
- Explanation: In policy debate, debaters develop a policy and then argue over its advantages and disadvantages. In value debate, speakers establish values and then argue which value is most significant. For example, which is more important life or freedom? Supporters of life argue that without life, a person cannot enjoy anything - you cannot enjoy freedom if you are dead. Therefore, life is a prerequisite (mandatory, must come before) for freedom and must be the most important value. Supporters of freedom would argue that life is only worth living if the quality of life is maintained at an acceptable level. Throughout history, soldiers have fought wars and donated their lives in order to protect freedom, democracy, and other values that make life worth living. Patrick Henry's famous words apply, "Give me liberty or give me death." Therefore, freedom is a conditional requirement for life - we must be free before life is worth living.
- Sample Values: The last unit in
this handbook lists several values that you will encounter while debating. The ones listed
below should help you understand what values are:
- Democracy - a system of government in which laws are made by, or at least reflect the wishes of, the majority of society. The people control the government and therefore the government responds to the people's needs.
- Equal Opportunity - everyone has the same opportunity to reap benefits from society. Regardless of a person's wealth, race, religion, or heritage, everyone has an equal chance to become prosperous and happy.
- Freedom - the right to pursue happiness as one sees fit with a minimal amount of government restraint. The individual has the ability to choose his own destiny and choose his own direction in life.
- Free Speech - the right of each individual to communicate his or her thoughts and ideas freely and openly. Free communication points out ills within a society and motivates people to take corrective action.
- Individualism - interests of each individual take precedence over the interests of the group, community, or country. Society will benefit if each person seeks his own interest because he will be more productive and creative.
- Knowledge - acquaintance with fact or truth, understanding through experiences and exposure. Knowledge leads to an understanding of humanity and nature and helps us manipulate conditions to our benefit.
- Life - the physical, mental, and spiritual experience that constitutes an individual's existence. Life is said to be a prerequisite of all other values for without life we cannot enjoy the benefits of any other value.
- National Security - the protection of a state from aggression, either internal - domestic unrest, or external - attack by another nation. Man is greedy and governments are necessary to protect us from ourselves.
- Quality Of Life - avoidance of suffering or pain, either physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. Life is of little value if we must live in pain, poverty, or fear of violence - quality is a measure of the value of life.
- Privacy - the right to be left alone involving protection from a variety of intrusions such as harassment, eavesdropping, background checks, and publicity of one's private life.
- Scientific Progress - the development or advancement of society. There are many different types of progress - social, scientific, industrial, technological, religious, etc. Each increases the quality and value of life.
- Security - a condition of being secure, or the freedom from danger, risk or injury. Without security, we are prisoners within our own homes and are denied the benefits of freedom and self-determination.
- Self Actualization - the achievement of one's full potential - discovering one's full capabilities. The highest calling of humanity is self-actualization with the ultimate purpose of progress being to provide humans with leisure and an environment that will allow self-actualization.
- Work - physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something. Work is good, because a human, through work, determines his self-potential and finds meaning in life.
- Value Exercise: Identify at least five examples of important values not listed in this handbook, define each value, tell why each is important, and provide each with a descriptive foundation.
Philosophical Theories
The relative importance of values has been studied by countless sociologists, philosophers, behaviorists, psychologists, and social scientists throughout the history of humanity. The findings of these studies have been recorded in numerous papers, books, and essays and only one thing has been made clear. Value debaters use these records, along with their own logic and reasoning, to support the values they present in a debate.
- Theorist: A theorist is a person who develops a theory -- an attempt to explain behaviors, beliefs, or events using logic and reasoning. Since experimentation with humans is severely restricted, most theories dealing with human beings are philosophical rather than scientific. There have been a number of different theorists through out the ages, i.e. Plato , Socrates , Thomas Jefferson , Emerson, Emmanual Kant , Karl Marx , etc. It is these theories that are used to support the hierarchy of values.
- Hierarchy: Hierarchy is a rank in order of importance, an arrangement of objects, values, or elements in a graduated series, a classification of items according to their status, e.g. a is more important than b, and b is more important than c.
- Example: According to Abraham Maslow , people will do anything in order to ensure survival -- if a person is starving, they will attack wild animals with their bare hands, ignore the threat of going to jail, disregard what other people think or say, and overlook the consequences of their actions in order to gain food. People must meet their basic, or most primitive, needs first, then they can concentrate on higher order needs -- or the needs that make men humans instead of animals. His theory outlines the importance of each category of need.
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
- Survival: This need includes food, water, and shelter from the elements. Until basic survival needs are fulfilled, nothing else is of much importance.
- Security: All people are motivated to seek protection against any threat to their safety. People tend to avoid situations that threaten their safety unless their survival is at stake.
- Freedom: Freedom from restraint or controls that regulate our beliefs or movement. Governments and individuals should not interfere with our freedom unless such freedom threatens the survival or security of others.
- Self-esteem: Self-esteem is characterized by the need for recognition and respect from others. Self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves.
- Self-actualization: Each person has a need within himself to create something, to produce, to contribute to society. Each person has a need to fulfill his potential -- to be all that he can be.
- Application in "Real Life": Why do people steal? Why do people kill? Why are there gangs? Some theorists assert people steal because they are hungry, they require food, or cannot meet other basic survival needs -- they allege poverty causes crime. Some maintain that a robber will shoot and kill a liquor store clerk because the clerk will call the police, and the police are a threat to the criminal's security -- they hold that socialization (the manner in which an individual is raised) causes crime. Some theorists believe that teens join gangs because they are rejected by 'normal' society as poor, ignorant, and criminal -- they argue that low self-esteem causes crime. These social theorists believe that criminals ignore 'acceptable' human behavior because their basic needs are not met, or, at least, the criminal does not believe they are met. Are these theories correct? Maybe, maybe not? They are just theories -- attempts to explain why people behave the way they do.
- Application in Value Debate: From
these theories, a debater will argue that his value is more important than his opponent's.
Consider the following example:
- Proposition: Resolved: that the control of crime justifies the limitation of certain civil liberty.
- Affirmative Value: The
affirmative may argue that the value of security (control of crime) is more important than
the value of freedom (individual liberty).
- To support his claim, he would use Abraham Maslow as the authority and explain that crime threatens an individual's security because of the threat of violence.
- If an individual's security is threatened he cannot possibly enjoy the value of freedom. For example, if a person is afraid, he will stay at home behind secure locks and refuse to venture outside because criminals might beat and murder him.
- Therefore, police are justified in invading some personal freedoms, e.g. searching cars without a warrant, in the attempt to control crime.
- The end result would decrease the crime rate, decrease fear and increase security; ultimately, the limitation of civil liberties would increase freedom since individuals would be less fearful to move about the world freely.
- Negative Value: The negative
may argue that the value of freedom (individual liberty) is more important than the value
of security (control of crime).
- To support his claim he would use the philosopher Thomas Jefferson as the authority and explain how security has been used as an excuse to control citizens by abusive governments.
- Governments, such as colonial Britain, uses security as an excuse to side-step civil liberties including a fair trial, assistance of a lawyer, and arbitrary detention.
- If we allow governments to limit civil liberties, then we allow them to violate 'natural' laws that proclaim that the purpose of government is to secure the rights of an individual.
- Once the violation of a right is justified, the restraining mechanism that keeps our government under control dissipates - we cannot justify a right by participating in a wrong.
- In America, individual liberties must come first and other measure to control crime must be developed..
Theorist Exercise: Look through an encyclopedia or any value debate brief and make a list of the philosophers that can be used as authorities. Select one of the theorists and write an essay that outlines his life and theories.