Introduction........................................................ ........................................................ ........ 2
1. Values in human life and society.................................................... .......... 3
1.1 The concept of value and its characteristics. Values and assessments................... 3
2. Classification of values.................................................. ........................... 7
2.1 Value orientations and their social conditioning.................................. 7
3. Value orientations of the individual.................................................... ............... 13
Conclusion................................................. ........................................................ . 16
Bibliography................................................ ..................................... 17
Introduction
Values occupy the most important place in the life of a person and society, since it is values that characterize human image life, the level of separation of man from the animal world.
The problem of values acquires particular significance in transition periods social development, when radical social transformations lead to a sharp change in existing value systems, thereby putting people in a dilemma: either preserve established, familiar values, or adapt to new ones, which are widely proposed, even imposed by representatives of various parties, public and religious organizations , movements.
Therefore, the questions are: what are values; what is the relationship between value and assessment; Which values are the main ones for a person, and which are secondary - are vitally important today.
1. Values in human life and society
1.1 The concept of value and its general characteristics. Values and assessments
Let's consider in the most large features issues general theory values and its most important categories. First of all, let's understand the meaning of the basic concept of this theory - the category of value. The etymological meaning of this word is very simple and fully corresponds to the term itself: value is what people value. These can be objects or things, natural phenomena, social phenomena, human actions, and cultural phenomena. However, the content of the concept of “value” and its nature are not as simple as it might seem from the position of ordinary consciousness.
What is the philosophical meaning of the concept “value”?
1. Value is social in its essence and has an object-subject nature.
It is known that where there is no society, there is no reason to talk about the existence of values. After all, things themselves, events without their connection with a person, with the life of society, have no relation to values. Thus, values are always human values and are social character. This applies not only to humanized nature, that is, to the entire civilization in the diversity of its manifestations, but even to numerous natural objects. For example, an atmosphere containing oxygen existed on Earth long before the appearance of man, but only with the emergence of human society it became possible to talk about the enormous value of the atmosphere for human life.
2. Value arises in the course of human practical activity.
Any human activity begins with defining the goal to which this activity will be dedicated. A goal is a person’s idea of the final result of an activity, the achievement of which would allow the individual to satisfy some of his needs. Thus, from the very beginning the individual treats the expected result of his activity as a value. Therefore, a person considers the process of activity itself, aimed at achieving a result, as significant and valuable for him.
Of course, not all results and not every human activity become values, but only those that are socially significant, meeting the social needs and interests of people. Moreover, this includes not only things, but also ideas, relationships, and methods of activity. We value material wealth, the kindness of human actions, and justice state laws, and the beauty of the world, and the greatness of the mind, and the fullness of feelings, and much more.
3. The concept of “value” must be distinguished from the concept of “significance”.
Value is related to the concept of “significance”, but is not identical to it. Significance characterizes the degree of intensity, tension value attitude. Some things touch us more, some less, some leave us indifferent. Moreover, significance can have the character of not only value, but also “anti-value”, i.e. harm. Evil, social injustice, wars, crimes and diseases are of great significance for society and the individual, but these phenomena are not usually called values.
Therefore, the concept of “significance” is broader than “value”. Value is positive significance. Phenomena that play a negative role in social development can be interpreted as negative significance. So, value is not all significance, but only that which plays positive role in the life of a person, his associations or society as a whole.
4. Any value is characterized by two properties: functional value and personal meaning.
What are these properties? Functional meaning values are a set of socially significant properties, functions of an object or ideas that make them valuable in a given society. For example, an idea is characterized by a certain information content and the degree of its reliability.
The personal meaning of a value is its relationship to human needs. The personal meaning of value, on the one hand, is determined by the object that performs the functions of value, and on the other hand, depends on the person himself. In comprehending the meaning of a thing, a person proceeds not from his purely natural need for it, but from the need educated by society, to which he belongs, i.e., from a generic social need. He seems to look at a thing through the eyes of other people, society, and sees in it what is important for his life within the framework of this society. Man, as a generic being, seeks in things their generic essence, the idea of a thing, which is the meaning for him.
At the same time, it should be noted that the meaning of values for people is ambiguous; it depends on their position in society and the tasks they solve. For example, a personal car can be a means of transportation and a prestigious item, which in this case is important as an object of possession that creates a certain reputation for the owner in the eyes of other people, or a means of obtaining additional income, etc. In all these cases, the same item is connected with different needs.
5. Values are objective in nature.
This provision may be objectionable. After all, it was previously noted that where there is no subject, it makes no sense to talk about value. Value depends on a person, his feelings, desires, emotions, i.e. it is considered as something subjective. In addition, for an individual, a thing loses value as soon as it ceases to interest him and serve to satisfy his needs. In other words, there can be no value outside the subject, outside the connection of a thing with its needs, desires, and interests.
And, nevertheless, the subjectivization of value, its transformation into something one-sidedly dependent on human consciousness is unjustified. Value, like significance in general, is objective, and this property of it is rooted in the objective-practical activity of the subject. It is in the process of such activity that people develop specific value attitudes towards the world around them. In other words, objective-practical activity is the basis for the fact that things, objects of the surrounding world, people themselves, their relationships acquire a certain objective meaning for a person, society, i.e. value.
Thus, value is the objective significance of the diverse components of reality, the content of which is determined by the needs and interests of the subjects of society. An attitude towards values is a value-based attitude.
2. Classification of values
2.1 Value orientations and their social conditioning
In the surrounding reality there are few phenomena that are indifferent to people, phenomena to which they do not express any value relationship. Therefore, there are as many values as there are phenomena of nature, society, human actions and feelings. However, this is true if we do not mean individual person, and all of humanity. For an individual, the range of values, that is, the phenomena that interest him, can be very narrow and limited. The limitation of personality is expressed in the limited number and nature of its life values, life interests.
The diversity of values existing in society necessitates their specific classification.
It should be noted that there is also no single approach to solving this problem in modern axiology. Therefore, generalizing the approaches to this problem available in various concepts, it is possible to classify values on the following grounds: by area public life; by subjects, or carriers of values; on the role of values in the life of society.
In accordance with the main spheres of public life, three groups of values are usually distinguished:
material,
socio-political
spiritual.
Material assets are valuable natural objects and objects, i.e. means of labor and things of direct consumption. Natural values include natural benefits contained in natural resources. And to object values - objects material world created as a result of human labor, as well as objects of cultural heritage of the past.
Socio-political values are value value social and political phenomena, events, political acts and actions. Socio-political values usually include the social good contained in political and social movements, as well as the progressive meaning historical events, contributing to the prosperity of society, strengthening peace and cooperation between peoples, etc.
Value is the significance, importance, usefulness and benefit of something. Outwardly, it appears as one of the properties of objects or phenomena. But their usefulness and significance are not due to their internal structure, that is, they are not given by nature, they are nothing more than subjective assessments of specific properties involved in the area of public interest in them and feel the need for them. In the Constitution Russian Federation it is written that highest value is the person himself, his freedom and rights.
Use of the concept of value in various sciences
Depending on what kind of science is studying this phenomenon in society, there are several approaches to its use. For example, philosophy considers the concept of value in the following way: it is socio-cultural, personal significance specific objects. In psychology, value is understood as all those objects of the society surrounding an individual that are valuable to him. This term in this case is closely related to motivation. But in sociology, values are understood as those concepts that name sets of goals, states, and phenomena that are worthy of people striving for. As you can see, in this case there is a connection with motivation. Moreover, from the point of view of these social sciences, there are the following types and spiritual. The latter are also called eternal values. They are not tangible, but sometimes they have much greater significance for society than all material objects combined. Of course, they have nothing to do with economics. In this science, the concept of value is considered as the cost of objects. At the same time, two types are distinguished: consumer and The first represent one or another value for consumers depending on the degree of utility of the product or its ability to satisfy human needs, and the second are valuable because they are suitable for exchange, and the degree of their significance is determined by the ratio that is obtained with equivalent exchange. That is, the more a person is aware of his dependence on a given object, the higher its value. People living in cities are entirely dependent on money because they need it to purchase the most necessary goods, namely food. For rural residents financial dependence is not as great as in the first case, since they can obtain the products necessary for life regardless of the availability of money, for example, from their own garden.
Different definitions of values
The most simple definition This concept is the statement that values are all those objects and phenomena that are capable of satisfying human needs. They can be material, that is, tangible, or they can be abstract, like love, happiness, etc. By the way, the set of values that are inherent in a particular person or group is called. Without it, any culture would be meaningless. But here is another definition of value: it is the objective significance of the variety of components (properties and attributes of a particular object or phenomenon) of reality, which are determined by the interests and needs of people. The main thing is that they are necessary for a person. However, value and significance are not always equivalent. After all, the first can be not only positive, but also negative, but value is always positive. What satisfies cannot be negative, although here everything is relative...
Representatives of the Austrian school believe that basic values are a specific amount of goods or benefits that are necessary to satisfy. The more a person realizes his dependence on the presence of a given object, the higher its value. In short, the relationship between quantity and need is important here. According to this theory, goods that exist in unlimited quantities, for example, water, air, etc., do not have special significance because they are non-economic. But goods, the quantity of which does not satisfy needs, that is, there are fewer of them than needed, are of real value. This view has both many supporters and opponents who fundamentally disagree with this opinion.
Changeability of values
This philosophical category has a social nature, since it is formed in the process of practice. In this regard, values tend to change over time. What was significant for this society may not be so for the next generation. And we see this on own experience. If you look back into the past, you will notice that the values of the generations of our parents and ours differ in many ways from each other.
Main types of values
As noted above, the main types of values are material (life-enhancing) and spiritual. The latter give a person moral satisfaction. The main types of material assets are the simplest goods (housing, food, household items, clothing, etc.) and goods of a higher order (means of production). However, both contribute to the functioning of society, as well as to improving the quality of life of its members. And people need spiritual values for the formation and further development of their worldviews, as well as their worldview. They contribute to the spiritual enrichment of the individual.
The role of values in the life of society
This category, in addition to representing some significance for society, also plays a certain role. For example, a person’s mastery of various values contributes to the acquisition of social experience, as a result of which he becomes involved in culture, and this, in turn, affects the formation of his personality. Another vital role values in society is that a person strives to create new goods, while preserving old, already existing ones. In addition, the value of thoughts, actions, and various things is expressed in how important they are for the process of social development, that is, the progress of society. And on a personal level - human development and self-improvement.
Classification
There are several classifications. For example, according to it, material and spiritual values are distinguished. But according to their significance, the latter are false and true. Classification is also carried out according to areas of activity, depending on their carrier, and according to the time of action. According to the first, they distinguish between economic, religious and aesthetic, the second - universal, group and personal values, and the third - eternal, long-term, short-term and momentary. In principle, there are other classifications, but they are too narrow.
Material and spiritual values
We have already talked about the first ones above; everything is clear with them. These are all the material goods that surround us, which make our life possible. As for the spiritual, they are components inner world of people. And the initial categories here are good and evil. The former contribute to happiness, and the latter - everything that leads to destruction and is the cause of discontent and misfortune. Spiritual - that's what it is true values. However, to be such, they must coincide with significance.
Religious and aesthetic values
Religion is based on unconditional faith in God, and it does not require any proof. Values in this area are guidelines in the lives of believers, which are determined by the norms and motives of their actions and behavior in general. And aesthetic values are everything that gives a person pleasure. They are directly related to the concept of “beauty”. They are associated with creativity, with art. Beauty is the main category of aesthetic value. Creative people They devote their lives to creating beauty, not only for themselves, but also for others, wishing by this to bring true joy, delight, and admiration to others.
Personal values
Each person has his own personal orientation. And they have different people may be fundamentally different. What is significant in the eyes of one may not be valuable to another. For example, classical music, which brings lovers of this genre into a state of ecstasy, may seem boring and uninteresting to someone. Personal values are greatly influenced by factors such as upbringing, education, social circle, environment, etc. Of course, the most strong impact family influences personality. This is the environment in which a person begins his primary development. He receives his first idea of values in his family (group values), but with age he may accept some of them and reject others.
The following types of values are considered personal:
- those that are components of the meaning of human life;
- most common semantic formations which are based on reflexes;
- beliefs that relate to desirable behavior or the completion of something;
- objects and phenomena to which the individual has a weakness or is simply not indifferent;
- what is important to every person and what he considers his property.
These are the types of personal values.
A new approach to defining values
Values are opinions (beliefs). Some scientists think so. According to them, these are biased and cold ideas. But when they begin to activate, they mix with feelings, and at the same time receive a certain color. Others believe that the main values are the goals that people strive for - equality, freedom, welfare. It is also a way of behavior that contributes to the achievement of these goals: mercy, empathy, honesty, etc. According to the same theory, true values should act as certain standards guiding the assessment or choice of people, actions and events.
The problem of values and value orientations is the subject of study of a number of sciences about man and society, in particular, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and pedagogy. “The concept of value, rather than any other, must occupy central place... capable of uniting the interests of different sciences relating to human behavior." Sociologists and anthropologists shared a similar opinion. Scientists have viewed values as criteria that people use to choose and justify their actions, as well as to evaluate other people, themselves, and events. Thus, values represent to a greater extent evaluation criteria than the qualities inherent in the objects themselves.
It is advisable to distinguish between two types of values:
1 values of society and social groups (social values);
personal values (individual values).
In social, psychological and educational research, both the concept of value and the concept of value orientations are used. There is no clear distinction between these concepts in the literature. They are often used interchangeably. When studying the characteristics of society, culture and individual social groups, the term “value” is used. When studying individual individuals, both the concept of value orientation and the concept of value are used. Value orientations are understood as a reflection in a person’s consciousness of values that he recognizes as strategic life goals and general ideological guidelines. Value orientations are the values of social groups internalized by the individual. Thus, it turns out to be completely justified to talk about a person’s values as his value orientations.
IN last years Research on individual differences in values has intensified significantly. Research at the international level has revealed differences in values in different cultures of the world and identified their origins. Research has revealed a huge amount of variation in the value priorities of individuals in each society, as well as differences between social groups within the same nation. They allowed us to conclude that individuals belonging to the same or different social groups differ quite significantly in their value priorities. These differences reflect their genetic inheritance, personal experience, social status and the influence of culture.
On the one hand, value priorities prevailing in society are a key element in culture. Individuals' value priorities represent central goals that are associated with all aspects of their behavior. On the other hand, values are directly influenced by everyday experience in a changing environmental and socio-political context.
Therefore, values are a good indicator for tracking processes of social and individual change resulting from historical, social and personal events. In addition, they can be used as a basis for studying the differences between social cultures and subcultures that emerge as social communities develop in certain directions as a result of their unique experiences.
Values and value orientations are usually considered as individual forms of representation of social (cultural, group, etc.) values. Thus, value orientations represent the main forms of functioning of values at the personal level.
In Russian psychology, value orientations are defined, as a rule, through the concepts of attitude, reflection, and attitude (A. G. Zdravomyslov, D. N. Uznadze, V. V. Suslenko, V. A. Yadov). Moreover, being one of the basic personal foundations, “value orientations are contained within a broader synthetic concept of personality orientation, which contains the dominant value orientations and attitudes that manifest themselves in any situation.” B. G. Ananyev, L. E. Probst and others developed a status-hierarchical structure of values in the form of a nuclear-centric model:
External status values that form a stable core;
values of average status (structural reserve);
values below average status (periphery);
lower status values.
Core and inferior status values are inactive. And the values that occupy an intermediate position are in constant motion.
Summarizing the definitions of values of many foreign theorists, Schwartz and Bilyaki identify the following main characteristics:
Values are beliefs (opinions). But these are biased, cold ideas. On the contrary, when values are activated, they become mixed with feeling and are colored by it.
Values - desired by man goals (eg equality). And a pattern of behavior that contributes to the achievement of these goals (for example, honesty, helpfulness).
Values are not limited to certain actions and situations (that is, they are transcendental). Obedience, for example, applies to work or school, sports or business, family, friends or strangers.
Values act as standards that guide the choice or evaluation of actions, people, and events.
The values are ordered by importance relative to each other. An ordered set of values forms a system of value priorities. Different cultures and personalities can be characterized by a system of their value priorities.
Values studies can be conducted at two levels of analysis:
At the level of personality (individual differences);
at the level of culture (differences in social culture).
Analysis of values at the personality level (individual differences). In this case, the unit of analysis is the individual. For individuals (individuals), values represent motivational goals that serve as guiding principles in their lives. "The relationship between different values reflect psychological dynamics conflict and compatibility that individuals experience when they follow values in Everyday life. People, for example, cannot strive to gain authority for themselves and at the same time try to be modest, but they can simultaneously strive for authority and material wealth." Correlations between people's value ratings reflect their underlying measurement axes. These measurement axes group individual values.
Analysis of values at the level of social culture (differences in social norms, customs and traditions of social groups). In this case, social groups become the units of analysis. This level of inquiry occurs when values characterize the social culture of a society or group of people, and when considering what is common to all the people who make up the this culture when abstract ideas about what is good, right, and desirable in a society or other limited social group are analyzed. In this context, the concept of culture is similar to the concepts of nation, nationality, ethnic or religious group, subculture and is understood as a specific social group characterized by social norms, customs, traditions. The most accurate equivalent of the term culture, widely used in English literature, is, perhaps, the concepts social culture, or social group. This difference is important to keep in mind so as not to confuse this concept with the individual culture of human behavior - the meaning in which this word is traditionally used in the Russian language. The social institutions within which people live express certain value priorities in relation to goals and methods of action. For example, in societies where individual ambition and success are highly valued, economic and legal system, are likely to be competitive (for example, capitalist markets and adversarial legal proceedings will form). In contrast, a cultural emphasis on group welfare is more likely to be expressed in cooperative systems (e.g., socialism and brokerage).
In fulfilling their roles in social institutions, people use cultural values to decide what behavior is acceptable and then justify their choices to others. Value priorities also influence how social resources are invested. For example, the relative importance that society places on values such as wealth, justice, and beauty partly determines whether money, land, and human resource invest in industrialization, social welfare or conservation environment. The priorities of a culture's values as standards also influence how performance is judged—in terms of productivity, social responsibility, innovation, or support for the existing power structure.
The relationships between different values at the cultural level reflect social dynamics compatibility and conflict that is found when social institutions pursue their goals. These relationships are not necessarily the same as those at the individual level. For example, although simultaneous emphasis on authority and humility are incompatible at the individual level (as noted above), they are compatible at the cultural level. The social system will operate more smoothly if people accept authority as a desirable basis for organization human relations and modesty as an appropriate response towards those with greater authority.
“Because the relationships between value priorities at two levels may differ, the underlying measurement axes that organize values may also not coincide. The axes of measurement at the cultural level should stem from correlations among the value priorities that characterize different social groups. That is, a group (for example, a nation) is taken as the unit of analysis, and correlations are calculated between many social groups.”
Thus, it is important to distinguish between studies of values at the individual level and at the cultural level. In this case, it is necessary to pay attention to two significant aspects.
First, the measurement axes that underlie value priorities may not be the same when analyzed at these two levels.
Second, the choice of the appropriate level of analysis depends on the nature of the question being asked.
1. If the question concerns how individual differences Since value priorities are related to variations in other individual qualities, personality-level measures of values should be used even when the study involves individuals from different cultural groups.
2. If the question concerns how cultural differences Since prevailing values are associated with certain variations in cultural attributes, it is necessary to measure at the cultural level, even if these variables represent the frequency of individual behaviors.
One of the most common approaches to the study of values and value orientations is the concept of M. Rokeach. Rokeach stimulated a lively interest in values among psychologists by proposing clear definition concepts and developed an easy to use tool. In recent decades, many researchers of this problem have relied to one degree or another on Rokeach’s concept.
In M. Rokeach's theory, values are understood as a type of belief that has a central position in an individual belief system. Values are the guiding principles of life. They determine how one should behave, what is the desired state or lifestyle, worthy or unworthy of conforming to them and striving for them.
Rokeach's concept of human values includes the following postulates:
The total number of values is small;
all people have the same values, but the same values have different “weight” for different people;
values are organized into systems;
The origins of human values can be traced to culture, society, public institutions and the human personality itself;
The influence of values can be traced in almost all social phenomena.
Value orientations are understood as “abstract ideas, positive or negative, not related to a certain object or situation, expressing human beliefs about types of behavior and preferred goals."
Rokeach distinguishes two types of values: terminal and instrumental.
Terminal values are beliefs that certain ultimate goals individual existence with personal and public points visions are worth striving for.
Instrumental values are beliefs that a certain course of action (e.g., honesty, rationalism) is personally and socially preferable in all situations.
The development and formation of a person’s value orientation is influenced by whole line external and internal factors.
“External factors include elements of the microenvironment (membership groups, reference groups and their values) and the macroenvironment (traditional system of universal values, social roles, mass media, social institutions, etc.).
TO internal factors we can include age, gender, temperamental characteristics, inclinations, abilities, leading intra-subjective needs, level of development of self-awareness.”
When it comes to values, one of the youngest sections of philosophy immediately comes to mind - axiology.
M. S. Kagan in his book “Philosophical Theory of Value” describes axiology as “an independent philosophical science that appeared only at the end of the last century. Of course, judgments about various types values - about goodness, kindness, beauty, holiness, etc. - we find in the classics of ancient philosophy, and in the theologians of the Middle Ages, and in Renaissance thinkers, and in philosophers of the New Age, but a generalizing idea about value as such and accordingly about patterns of its manifestation in various specific forms did not exist in philosophy until the middle of the last century. Therefore, the subtitle of L. Stolovich’s book “Essay on the history of aesthetic axiology” is not entirely correct, because in relation to the history of aesthetic, ethical, theological, philosophical thought before the 19th century, it is not right to speak of “axiology” as philosophical theory values, nor about value as such."
It follows from this that even during ancient philosophy values were described, but precise definition no valuables were given. The historian of the philosophical study of values, A. Stern, explained this very accurately: “Undoubtedly, Plato, Aristotle and other great philosophers, developing the problems of ethics, aesthetics, economic theory and others, dealt with values, but they did not realize that goodness, beauty, benefit, etc. have something in common, which should become the subject independent discipline" .
Currently, the most recognized concept is value as a special highest form of motivation, most closely related to the “core” of personality.
The concept of value as a form of motivation is interdisciplinary, and is understood differently not only in different disciplines(philosophy, sociology, psychology, economics, etc.), but also within each of them.
Dilthey and Spranger are representatives of the philosophy of life. However, they are known as the founders of spiritual-scientific psychology, with values understood as a component of the psychology of spirituality. The spiritual environment also includes generalized philosophical ideas about the world around us, global concepts (categories). The founder of the philosophy of life is Frederich Nietzsche.
From the point of view of V. Dilthey, values are the values of life, including the values of mental life. Through values there is an elevation of life, the acquisition of a global meaning of life, “in the very nature of life there is a tendency to saturate every moment with the fullness of value.”
Formation of personal values in individual development– not an automatic process, complicated by multiplicity group affiliation people in modern urbanized society and the frequent inconsistency of value systems and role expectations of various social groups to which the individual belongs. Choice social values huge, but only a few of them become more than external requirements, enter the motivational structure of the individual, becoming personal values. Prerequisites for this process: identification with a group focused on a given value and practical participation in joint activities motivated by this value. There is every reason to assume that an individual’s assimilation of values proceeds in diverging circles, from small groups (family, etc.) to large ones (nation, humanity), and previously acquired values can serve as a powerful barrier to the assimilation of contradictory values of large groups.
Let us now dwell on the types of values (according to N. S. Shadrin). The basic types of personal values are usually classified as six types: moral, artistic, aesthetic, political, professional and religious values. (E. Spranger, M.S. Kagan, N.S. Shadrin, etc.).
The term " core values does not mean, however, that their full set is found in any value-oriented individual. With this in mind, let us consider in more detail the most important characteristics of the main (basic) types of values.
Moral values. According to its content moral values include: basic laws and principles of morality (ethics); ethical prohibitions; moral commandments; generalized and specific ethical standards and rules. And also: all moral feelings and relationships that have the nature of motives, such as duty, justice, responsibility, pity, reverence, shame.
Aesthetic values. Perhaps of all types of values, they have a universal and even “cosmic” character to the maximum extent. They express a person’s unquenchable interest in being around himself and creating phenomena of social and natural life that are positive in their universal significance.”
The components (dimensions) of aesthetic values, as well as types of aesthetic feelings and relationships, are the beautiful - sublime, tragic - comic. There are also negative aesthetic qualities - base, ugly and terrible.
As noted by N.S. Shadrin, the beautiful and the sublime act as positive aesthetic values, while the tragic and comic are the result complex interaction these positive values with anti-values (base, ugly, terrible). Hence the problem of inevitable death (death) and moral victory everything noble, sublime and beautiful in its unfolding struggle against evil (tragic) in historical time. Since the tragic content contains the intention of immortality. The tragic can act as a value associated with the affirmation of human existence.
The comic acts as a denigration of the positive value of a phenomenon that was unreasonably presented as such. At the same time, in irony there is a moral “destruction”, that is, a devaluation of a negative phenomenon, while in humor there are minor shortcomings of an overall positive phenomenon. As psychologist S. L. Rubinstein noted, “Humor is always the most gentle feeling that helps to improve some positive phenomenon.”
As for the beautiful and the sublime, their general characteristics rest on the problem of freedom. Freedom in its essence has many types (freedom as the opportunity to choose, as the absence of coercion, etc.), but here highest value has a definition as the unity (harmony) of the generic essence (nature) of a person and his manifestations (actions, etc.). What is wonderful is the phenomenon in which freedom has already been won, that is, a certain level of harmony has been achieved between the essence of man and his manifestations, that is, between his essence and existence. For example, a man in a national costume is beautiful, all the details of which correspond to his national, or rather ethnic, character. A loving mother who enthusiastically sews clothes for her child, etc. is wonderful.
The sublime, in contrast to the beautiful, is a manifestation not of already won freedom, but rather of the process of its conquest, when natural or social elements (forces) not yet submissive to man are curbed. The sublime contains a moment of heroic impulse in the face of grandiose catastrophes, cataclysms and natural forces that release enormous energy that not only suppresses a person, but also calls him to fight to achieve great harmony and freedom. True, the heroic is not entirely equivalent to the sublime, for it expresses an impulse in the face of mainly social “storms.”
Artistic values. The specificity of artistic values lies in the fact that they are always created only in the sphere of art, and lies in their spiritually reflective function.
According to the “Concise Dictionary of Aesthetics”, the quality of any artistic value– this is harmony and compositional harmony, expressiveness and intelligibility of artistic language, completeness, unity of form and content, etc.
Political values. These values are manifested at the level of spiritual culture (not technology) of political creativity, political activity and political relationships social subjects. Political values include the values of democracy, human rights, the rule of law, etc.
Professional values. These values can be classified as being at the intersection of “social-organizational” and moral “personal-collective” values.
For example, the content of a doctor’s professional values includes requirements such as “be sure to come to the aid of anyone in need,” “constantly expand your knowledge and experience,” “do no harm,” etc.
The professional values of a teacher can include pedagogical faith and pedagogical optimism, pedagogical tact, sensitivity towards children as his generalized personal aspirations, understanding and implementation of his role in society as liaison generations, the motive of deep internal responsibility for the results of one’s work, etc. .
The variety of types of values indicates the variety of meanings that they can give to the activities of an individual and his life in general. Now we can more specifically consider the functions of personal values, which are manifested in educational process.
Functions of values– this is a special case of motive functions.
The function of managing the development of specific social systems, social groups and, of course, the individual himself. Special role this function play in pedagogical activity, since a teacher can exercise “value-oriented” management of the development of a team through “implanting” certain positive values into the fabric of its life. At the same time, the need for “directive” pedagogy disappears, and the opportunity arises to fully rely on “pedagogy of cooperation”, since with such an orientation of the interaction of the teacher with the team of students, the motivational (value) unity of the members begins to manifest itself teaching staff. And it is not at all necessary for students to constantly build a “tree of goals”, since the target and operational orientation of activity is carried out by them to a certain extent independently. It is clear that the implementation of value-oriented management requires a high stage of development of the teaching staff and its members.
Directing and incentive function. It can be noted that the use of motives—values—in education has considerable meaning, since their advantage lies in their supra-situational, “enduring” nature, and focusing on these motives reveals broad and sustainable prospects in the life of the student. Given that values can determine the main direction of a person’s life path.
Communication function. When practicing educational - cognitive and educational - educational activities together, it should be taken into account that communication can be based not only on commonality, but also on differences in values, due to which the spiritual enrichment of students occurs, their horizons expand, etc. of the educational organization.”
Function of familiarization with core aspects professional activity, associated primarily with professional ethics behavior, etc. This function is more inherent in professional values, the formation of which in the system higher education, which is professionally oriented, needs to be given Special attention. But unfortunately, a clear list of the features of professional values has not yet been given, at least for the main professions.
Emotionally - evaluative function. In terms of solving pedagogical problems, this function is of considerable importance, since in the learning process it is necessary not to passively “absorb” the flow of information coming from the teacher, but to active absorption with an emphasis on the student’s personal experience. Since it is known that emotionally experienced information is absorbed by students much more firmly than indifferently perceived information. Relying on values allows one to achieve such a stable and caring attitude of the student towards the information being acquired. The specific methodological task here is to present the material in a form that reveals its value and semantic component. In this case, the value meaning of the information perceived by the student should be experienced, as a rule, in the form of higher feelings (moral, aesthetic, etc.).
The meaning-forming function of values. This function plays a vital role in the educational process. The peculiarities of value meanings in the field of pedagogical activity are expressed in the fact that they are the most important source of self-regulation of student behavior for a very long time. life perspective, push him to form broad life plans and meaningful plans for the future. Considering that values are also related to the formation of the meaning of life.
In educational psychology, the “classical mechanism” of meaning formation at the level of the formation of personal meanings is quite widely known, which was studied by A. N. Leontiev and called by him “a shift of motive to goal.” Its essence is that values, which generally act as supra-situational motivational formations, can “transition” to specific goals of activity, albeit of a rather global nature. That is, in this case, what was the goal, but was first prompted by other, perhaps purely “everyday” motives, in certain situations begins to acquire a value meaning that is gradually formed in the child under the influence of an adult. It follows from this that at the beginning it was a simple, pragmatic goal, becomes a form of realization of the motive - value or acts as its side.
Options for the manifestation of values and value experiences as the basis for finding the meaning of life
The meaning of life is a rather complex category of the psyche and psychology; in any case, it is a special case of the concept of meaning in general. Psychologists most often talk about the personal meaning of activity (A.N. Leontyev); sometimes they talk about the target and operational meanings of activity (O.K. Tikhomirov, B.A. Sosnovsky, S.M. Dzhakupov).
Apparently the meaning of life is a special component of personal meaning. The concept of meaning appeared in psychology at the beginning of our century, in the works of V. Dilthey and A.N. Leontyev. At the same time, the active implementation of this concept, which makes it possible to grasp patterns and trends in its use, begins only in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and its theoretical reflection even later.
In educational psychology, the “classical mechanism” of meaning formation at the level of the formation of personal meanings is quite widely known, which was studied by A.N. Leontiev and called it “a shift of motive to goal.” Its essence is that values, acting in general as supra-situational motivational formations, can “transition” to specific goals of activity, albeit of a rather global nature. That is, in this case, what was the goal, but was initially prompted by other, perhaps purely “everyday” motives, in certain situations begins to acquire a value meaning that is gradually formed in the child under the influence of an adult. It follows from this that at the beginning it was a simple, pragmatic goal, becomes a form of realization of the motive-value or acts as its side.
When educating his students with “values,” the teacher must look for and actively create situations where various psychological mechanisms formation and development of values.
The founder of logotherapy, V. Frankl, once heard from a teacher about “can we, professors, in the process of studying at the university, transfer values to students or give them something of the meaning of life. To this I answered, writes V. Frankl, that we cannot teach values - we must experience values. Likewise, we cannot communicate the meaning of life to our students. What we can give them, give them with us on their journey, is just one example, an example of our own dedication to the cause of scientific research.”
V. Frankl shares two types of motives - desire for pleasure and the desire for sense. V. Frankl, in contrast to Z. Freud, considers the desire for a person to search for the realization of the meaning of life as an innate motivational tendency inherent in all people and is the main driver of behavior and personality development. From life observations, clinical practice and various empirical data, V. Frankl concludes that in order to actively live and act actively, a person must believe in the meaning that his actions have. “Even a suicide believes in meaning - if not in life, then in death,” says V. Frankl in otherwise he could not lift a finger to realize his plan.
The absence of meaning gives rise to a state in a person that Frankl calls an “existential vacuum.” According to Frankl’s observations, supported by numerous clinical studies, it is the cause of specific “noogenic neuroses” on a large scale, which spread in the post-war period in the countries of Western and Eastern Europe and on an even larger scale in the United States, although some varieties of such neuroses (for example, neurosis unemployment). A necessary condition mental health is a certain level of tension that arises between a person, on the one hand, and an objective meaning localized in the external world, on the other hand, which he has to implement.
From this we can conclude that a person, according to Frankl, strives to find meaning and feels frustration or vacuum if this desire remains unrealized.
The doctrine of the meaning of life teaches that meaning is “in principle available to any person, regardless of gender, age, intelligence, education, character, environment and religious beliefs.” But in this case, finding meaning is not a question of knowledge but of recognition. It is not man who puts the question before him, and man has to answer it daily and hourly - not with words, but with actions. Meaning is not subjective, a person does not invent it, but finds it in the world, in objective reality, which is why it acts for a person as an imperative that requires its implementation. Accordingly, semantic reality cannot be explained through psychological topics more biological mechanisms and cannot be studied by traditional psychological methods.
While asserting the uniqueness and originality of the meaning of each person’s life, Frankl rejects some of the “philosophical life.” So, the meaning of life cannot be pleasure, because it is internal state subject. By the same logic, a person cannot strive for happiness, he can only look for reasons for happiness. The struggle for existence and calls for procreation are also justified only insofar as life itself already has some kind of meaning independent of this.
The position about the uniqueness of meaning does not prevent Frankl from giving a meaningful description of possible positive meanings. To do this, he introduces the idea of values - semantic universals, crystallized as a result of the generalization of typical situations that society has had to face in history.
Thus, values, according to Frankl, are the basis of the meaning of life. This allows us to summarize the possible ways in which a person can make his life meaningful: firstly, with the help of what we give to life (in the sense of our creative work); secondly, with the help of what we take from the world (in the sense of experiencing values); and thirdly, through the position we take in relation to fate, which we are unable to change. According to this division, three groups of values are distinguished: creativity values, experiential values and relational values.
Among the values, Frankl identifies the values of creativity, the main way of implementation of which is work. At the same time, a person’s work acquires meaning and value as his contribution to the life of society, and not just as his occupation. The meaning of work lies primarily in what he brings as an individual to his work.
Creativity values are the most natural and important, but not necessary. The meaning of life can, according to Frankl, be given in retrospect to one moment - a single moment, one brightest experience. Among the values of experience, Frankl dwells in detail on love, which has a rich value potential. Love is a relationship at the level of the spiritual, semantic dimension, the experience of another person in his originality and uniqueness, the knowledge of his deep essence. But love is not a necessary condition or the best option for meaningful life. An individual who has never loved or been loved can nevertheless shape his life in a very meaningful way.
Most attention Frankl focuses on relationship values. A person has to resort to these values when he finds himself at the mercy of circumstances that he is unable to change. But under any circumstances, a person is free to take a meaningful position in relation to them and give his suffering a deep life meaning. As soon as we add relational values to the list of possible categories of values, Frankl writes, it becomes obvious that human existence can never be meaningless in its own right. inner essence. A person’s life retains its meaning until the end – the last breath. Perhaps, practical achievements Logotherapy is associated precisely with relational values, with people finding the meaning of their existence in situations that seem hopeless and meaningless. Frankl considers attitude values to be somewhat higher, although their priority is the lowest - turning to them is justified only when all other possibilities for more active influence on one’s own destiny have been exhausted. Although this does not always happen. Ideas concerning personal meaning and the meaning of an individual’s life in its relationship with core motives (ideals, values) can also be found in the concepts of A.N. Leot'ev and his students (B.S. Bratus, A.D. Leontiev, etc.), their developments complement the views of V. Frankl that we have considered.
Since the desire for realization unique meaning in his life makes each person his individuality. Meaning human personality is always connected with society; in its orientation towards society, the individual’s meaning transcends itself. Conversely, the meaning of society is in turn constituted by the existence of individuals.
Concluding the consideration of the doctrine of the meaning of life in the theory of V. Frankl, the main thesis of this doctrine is “a person’s life cannot lose meaning under any circumstances; the meaning of life can always be found.”
A person is always characterized by a gap between what he is and what he wants to be - a gap that gives rise to contradiction. Such a discrepancy is rooted in the dual nature of man: the subject is both a passive observer (object) and an active creator own life(subject). Balancing between two opposite poles, the personality acts as a part of the general “realm of values”, and at the same time – its cause, foundation. She, as the subject of the formation of moral priorities, needs a group in which moral guidelines would become the norm; she needs a society with which she could come into conflict (for the birth of new universals is possible only through a value conflict). And at the same time, as an object, it needs a culture from which ready-made moral principles can be drawn.
At every moment of his existence, a person makes a value choice, makes a moral decision, resolves a moral conflict, modifies cultural norms, and undergoes changes own principles, establishing for some time a consistent system of semantic universals. Thus, he consciously, responsibly and freely forms what is significant for himself - now, fills existence with meaning.
Meaningful orientations as a way of relating to the world are realized by the individual in all spheres of life through values, ideals, and beliefs. Through life meaning, as a variety of relationships, an individual builds his/her attitude to political realities, socio-economic transformations, culture, profession, career, etc. .
The life-meaning orientations of each person are a set of values and goals unique to a given individual, which she has chosen as fundamental to her existence. The peculiarity of this need lies in the uniqueness of its understanding by each person, and, therefore, it is impossible to determine ready-made clichés of the most successful goals of existence, which creates difficulties in their study and development. The most acute problem of determining one’s place in society and understanding what is worth living for is faced by school graduates. V. Frankl pointed out the fact that existential frustration is a phenomenon of loss of meaning in life and development in this regard special type depressive state is characteristic mainly of “thinking” youth. On the relevance of the problem of searching for the meaning of life in early adolescence Many domestic psychologists also say. For example, L.I. Bozhovich argues that the choice of a future life path and self-determination become for high school students the motivational center that determines their activities, behavior and their attitude towards others.
The most suitable illustration in this case is Maslow's theory of self-actualization, based on the hierarchy of needs. See table 1.
Table 1.
“According to Maslow, for normal personal growth What is required is a shift in the relative importance of needs from the most primitive (physiological and safety needs) to the most sublime or most “human” (in truth and beauty). Maslow also studied people with a fulfilled need for self-actualization and formulated the results of his observations in terms personal profile, which included such qualities as effective perception of reality, the need for solitude and privacy, as well as acceptance of oneself and others"
A. Maslow understood the phenomenon of self-actualization as a process limited by the individual’s self-awareness, but it is quite acceptable to understand self-actualization as a desire for personalization.
The search for the meaning of life in itself is not something strange or unusual. There's no reason to be ashamed existential despair as if it were an emotional disorder; it is not a neurotic symptom, but a human achievement. First of all, it is a manifestation of intellectual sincerity and honesty.
The meaning of life is what a person lives his individual life for, the motive of a person’s life. The meaning is the future in which I live.
If a person has lost the meaning of life, then he either looks for it, or suffers without it. The habit of suffering characterizes people with a neurotic character, and suffering due to the lack of meaning in life is a sign of neurosis. People with a depressive background and people with romantic moods are most often keen on searching for the meaning of life.
However, the search for the meaning of life is not only a sign of neurosis, but also an indicator a certain level culture. The understanding that there can be meaning in life, that life can and should be directed towards something, to be lived for the sake of something, does not come to everyone and not immediately; this understanding requires a certain level of culture. The average person finds the meaning of his life in what his environment dictates to him, but this is not the only way its acquisition.
“...The problem of the meaning of being includes interrelated questions about the meaning of man, his life, society and history, the central one of which is the question of meaning human life. The complex of these questions constitutes the problem of the meaning of life in its broad meaning, since without answering them its solution is impossible. That is, the meaning of a person’s life is not only a part, but also the main form of the meaning of existence.” In the course of life, semantic systems form a person’s experience, organize the cognitive and emotional spheres of the individual, and serve as a source of behavior. A person in development continuously differentiates himself from the general mass and at the same time understands his integration with more wide world. This process becomes possible due to the fact that at each stage of development the old becomes part of the new. As a person grows older, the meaning system becomes unique, while maintaining commonality with the meaning systems of other people.
Reassessment of values, reflection and reorientation life meanings– a natural process of personality development. Acquiring new life and social roles forces a person to look at many things in a new way. This is the main point of personal development in older and mature age. It should be noted that the development process in these periods of life is of an individual “ageless” nature, since it is determined by the existing life experience and the existing individual system of a person’s relationship to himself and to reality.
Thus, a person’s life-meaning orientations do not stop developing at any stage of a person’s life, but continue to develop as meaning systems throughout life.
In the course of our research, two hypotheses were put forward; the first hypothesis was related to the task of identifying certain aspects and relationships of the parameter of the meaning of life (meaning-life orientations).
The essence of this hypothesis was the assumption that the level of meaning in life (meaningful life orientations) is in inverse relationship(correlations) with the level of depression. If this hypothesis is confirmed, this will mean that increasing the level of fulfillment and meaning in life is not an abstract problem, but a way to combat persistent depressive manifestations of the individual.
At the same time, the essence of the second hypothesis was the assumption that the level of desire for the realization of the meaning of life (the level of meaningful life orientations) among music students, whose activities are related to the transmission of values, is significantly higher than among students with a physics and mathematics background.