2025 GP Y6 Lecture - Value (Notes)

Dunman High School H1 General Paper, Year 6 Value & Importance, Part I: Value – types, influences, perceptions [2025 T1W3] Lecture Notes Name Class Organisation of these notes A. What may the word ‘value’ mean? 1. Values as a moral compass 2. Value as the worth or desirability of a thing, action or experience B. Which types of value are there? 1. Value in terms of hedonistic benefits 2. Practical value 3. Economic value 4. Aesthetic value 5. Social and cultural value 6. Value in terms of health and safety 7. Political value 8. Epistemic/Intellectual value 9. Ethical/Moral value C. Where do values come from? What shapes them? 1. Feelings/Emotions 2. Rationality / Logical reasoning 3. Norms/Conventions 4. Roles/Duties 5. Identity 6. Lifestyle / Way of life 7. History / Past experiences 8. Universal human nature 9. The qualities of the things/actions themselves D. Why do people have different perceptions of value? 1. Value to one stakeholder vs Value to another stakeholder 2. Tangible values vs Intangible values 3. Realism/Pragmatism vs Idealism E. How may we use these concepts for essays and AQ? 1. Evaluation 2. Explanation 3. Balance 4. Rebuttal 5. Resolution and Stand F. Some past-year A-level questions related to value 1 © 2025 DHS | GP | Y6

A. What may the word ‘value’ mean in the context of discussions about life and society? 1. Values as a moral compass in people . These refer to morally ideal behaviour and attitudes, such as honesty and discipline, that people aspire to live up to. They serve as guiding principles in people, organisations or communities. 2. Worth or desirability of a thing, action or experience . These are qualities in things, actions or experiences, that make us see those things as worth pursuing or attractive and appealing. We want to acquire certain things because those things seem valuable. We want to do certain actions or have certain experiences because we see value in them. Value is often based on benefits to oneself or others. It may not always be moral. This lecture is about the second meaning, though the first meaning is related to the next section’s item 9 (Ethical/Moral value). B. Which types of value are there? 1. Value in terms of hedonistic benefits Something is valuable from a hedonistic perspective if we value it for giving us pleasure or comfort , usually through our senses in a superficial manner. 2. Practical value Something has practical value if it is useful for practical purposes . Practical means it involves not just internal feelings or thoughts, but instead involves outward actions that aim at tangible, concrete, observable impacts . Practical value includes helping us achieve practical aims with greater efficiency , efficacy or ease . 3. Economic value Something is economically valuable if it can help us to make money (this is also known as being financially valuable) or boosts business success . 4. Aesthetic value Something has aesthetic value if we value its beauty , artistic creativity , or artistically created symbolic meaning . 5. Social and cultural value Something is socially valuable if it contributes to collective identity or bonds between people . Something is culturally valuable if it contributes to culture . Culture is a community’s beliefs, customs, creative works and heritage , all of which contribute to its collective identity and vibrancy . 6. Value in terms of health and safety Something is valuable in terms of health if it contributes to people’s physical or mental well-being . Something is valuable in terms of safety if it protects people. 7. Political value Something is politically valuable to governments or political figures if it contributes to their power , or boosts people’s loyalty to them. 8. Epistemic/Intellectual value Something has epistemic value if it contributes to knowledge or truth . Something has intellectual value if it contributes to advanced thinking abilities, especially abstract thinking and deep understanding . Something has educational value if it contributes to students’ learning . 9. Ethical/Moral value We see an action as ethical/moral if it follows ethical/moral principles or feelings about what is good or right . This can be influenced by a variety of belief systems, including 2 © 2025 DHS | GP | Y6

religious ethics, environmental ethics, social justice, and egalitarianism. Such moral principles and feelings roughly correspond to the first meaning of ‘value’ in section A. ‘ Ethics ’ and ‘ morality ’ mean almost the same thing, but ethics is slightly broader: usually morality is about being good towards others, while ethics can also include being good towards oneself. This list, though wide-ranging, is not exhaustive. These types of value can overlap with each other. For instance, economic success and health benefits are often also considered practical benefits. C. Where does value come from? What shapes value? 1. Feelings/Emotions: We are emotionally drawn towards certain things. Our feelings of empathy often guide our sense of morality towards others. Our feelings of craving for sensory pleasure motivates our hedonistic pursuits. 2. Rationality / Logical reasoning: We reason that certain things or actions will likely lead to certain valuable outcomes, and we value them based on such reasoning. 3. Norms/Conventions: We look at the common behaviour and attitudes of the people around us, this tells us what our community or society normally sees as valuable, and we follow them. 4. Roles/Duties: A stakeholder’s role in society may include the duty of pursuing certain outcomes that society deems valuable, such as parents’ duty of raising children, or governments’ duty of protecting the public’s safety. Stakeholders thus see value in actions that fulfil their duties. 5. Identity: We may identify with certain groups, worldviews or idols that value certain things. Individuals who identify as devout members of a religion are likely to find value in religious culture and religious morality. Followers of influencers may value the commodities and lifestyles the influencers promote, as a way to feel closer to their idols. 6. Lifestyle / Way of life: If you live a lifestyle that requires certain things, then you will see value in those things and find it hard to let go of them. If you live a materialistic lifestyle, you are more likely to seek hedonistic experiences and economically valuable things. If you were to transition to a more modest or austere lifestyle, material things may lose their