The vital values They are the set of beliefs and principles of action in the life, illness and death of a person. They consist of the things that a person gives importance to when establishing their life plan and that determine how they live and what decisions they make. For example, what lifestyle to follow, education, what people to relate to or how to live old age.
This concept belongs to the classification of values carried out by the German philosopher Max Scheler, who created a description of the importance of ethics and its influence on the development of man's character. Through values, the human being can find the meaning of the physical, the mental and the influence of his surroundings.
For Scheler, vital values are in a separate classification, since they cannot be compared with those that are subject to beauty or pleasure. Life values have a much deeper meaning.
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Some of the elements that can be highlighted of the vital values are the following:
- They refer to health and disease, life and death. Vital values determine the decisions made in these areas. For example, a person may have the vital value of caring for health and having a disease prevention lifestyle..
- Although it refers to external aspects, it also pursues deeper emotional purposes. For example, a person may prefer to feel emotions related to bonding with other people.
- According to Ortega y Gasset, vital values have two dimensions: one that connects with our primitive part and another that rather has utilitarian functions.
- Apart from the physical, the vital values involve the mental and the environment that surrounds the human being. That is, they influence the decisions that influence mental life and how people react to events in the environment..
Vital values can be represented by words that can better illustrate their meaning:
-Noble / ignoble.
-Well-being / discomfort. A person can value feeling good about other things.
-Convenient / inconvenient.
- Love Hate. A person can value feeling love over other things.
- Illness / health. A person can value health over other things.
- Youth / old age. A person can value old age over other things.
Scheler determined the necessary foundations for the study of the phenomenon of emotions in the human being, including the influence of different types of values.
According to Scheler, vital values are obtained by linking the physical with the mental. Therefore, these values are beliefs and principles of action referring to how the people in their life are, how they manage their health, how they act or how they enjoy.
While the vital involves physical well-being to achieve mental and spiritual enjoyment, it should not be degraded or distorted in the process.
As mentioned above, Scheler's approach emphasized the need to connect the physical and the spiritual to reach a higher level of value..
On The sporting origin of the State, José Ortega y Gasset further explored the approaches made by Scheler and classified two types of activities that are manifested in the individual:
- One of animal character and connected with our primitive side, in which creativity and spontaneity predominate..
- Another more streamlined and mechanical with utilitarian purposes. Lacks nature and creativity.
Although a balance must be found between the two states, thanks to the changes produced in the Modern Era, the second behavior has been prioritized more than the first, so the higher value mentioned by Scheler is subtracted..
Ortega y Gasset goes on to explain that the physical effort to maintain health is meaningless by only limiting it to the utilitarian, instead of pursuing a deeper benefit..
Making an unnecessary effort produces the loss of nobility of the vital value of health and strength, to become a cult towards superficiality in favor of social acceptance.
Vital values are part of a broader classification:
They trigger feelings of satisfaction or pain. They have a short duration and are limited to the external. For example, pain, hunger, thirst, pleasure.
Different states of the body, taking into account this as a single unit. They are also linked to fear and hope, the vulgar and the noble. Through these, each individual poses a project of personal fulfillment.
They can be influenced according to how social interaction is generated and can be subject to a mental or emotional predisposition. For example, anger, sadness, sympathy, jealousy. There is a manifestation of intentional emotions such as empathy, hatred or love.
Emotions take control of our mind and body. It can even overwhelm us at times and present itself in unexpected ways..
Appearance of good health. Restitution of good health.
Not healthy. Dangerous or harmful.
Vigor, character, strength and endurance.
Loose or giving in easily.
To achieve this hierarchy or classification, the polarity of the values was established where the positive meets its negative counterpart.
Political values.
Hierarchy of values.
Priority values.
Personal values.
Transcendental values.
Types of securities.
Objective values.
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