A THEORY OF VALUE

Two contexts in which I might use the term value:

1. A set of items has a numerical value
2. I value a certain piece of music


These seem to be very different uses of the term value, and, while not disputing the differences between them, I want to argue that our use of the term value in both of these instances is indicative of a very abstract and useful concept of value that is equally applicable in both cases.

At the very foundation of this abstract concept of value is the fact that values require evaluators. Valuing is something that is done by organisms (and maybe-someday-by inorganic technology). More specifically, by evaluating, an organism assesses some part of the environment with respect to an existing system of classification. As a result of the assessment, the organism will categorize the assessed in terms of one or more dimensions of classification, which may be affective, moral, numerical, etc. Such is the process of evaluating, and therefore, to say that something has value is to say that it has been appraised by the organism in this manner.

I'm arguing for this abstract concept of value because I see it as forming a very important and basic component of all cognition and action in organisms. Any organism's ability to act in the world will be affected-for better or worse-by how adaptively the organism is able to evaluate in this general sense. The fact that there is such a big gap between e.g. moral values and numerical values does nothing to detract from the validity of this general concept. These very differences illustrate the diversity of means by which evaluating is done. That numerical values seem so different from values like patriotism is a testament to the diverse processes that may lead to values-which are themselves as diverse as the evaluative processes that created them.

From this standpoint, we can go forth and say: What is numerosity? What is patriotism? What is love? From an abstract level of a certain perspective, all of these are the same type of thing: they are all values.