The most important value is...?

[Ahleckz]

I'm filling out an application to be part of a humanist advert on the TV and you have to pick a question from the following and write a short answer on it. I thought this would be an interesting conversation to have.

Why are you good?
What's the most important human value?
How should children be educated about religion?
What's your life about?
What's the best way to find happiness?
What does humanism mean to you?
How can we solve the problem of sectarianism?

I've picked the 2nd question and believe that it is passion. I feel that without passion then there really isn't much point in living. It doesn't matter what you are passionate in, or how you show that passion but what is important is that you have passion for something which may not give you a purpose but provides you with an outlet for your ideas and energy.
It's easy to plod through life, as many of us do (and indeed, I am doing right now) but I think that we should strive to do better and achieve things that go beyond ourselves (a bit hippyish this, but nevermind!). Passion provides us with this drive and creates things as diverse as love, success and harmony.

So yeah, a quick answer from me what about you guys? I imagine many of us are quite humanist in our leanings (even if you aren't sure of what that means - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism). If you want some more details about this advert, then I can post them up.

 

[Ahleckz]

wtf is a humanist and why should i buy one?

Humanism is a approach in study, philosophy or practice that focuses on human values and concerns.
Basically, human values and concerns are the most important thing (contrast it to religion/anarchism/etc)

I don't know if I'd specifically pick passion, maybe compassion though. Compassion is a function of empathising with others and (often) attempting to help them in some way, it's one of those things that when you see it just makes you feel that little bit better about this human race we belong to and gives you (or me at least) that sliver of hope that we've got a future that isn't based on self-absorption.

However it's rather difficult to single out any any individual value as being significantly more important than any other. I've re-read the question and I'm not quite sure that I'm actually answering the question as value might have a rather specific meaning intended
in this context.

I'm not sure compassion is entirely necessary in life, or that important. Perhaps empathy would be more fitting. I can feel for people and share their troubles but not be sympathetic to their cause. I'm not sure if that is making sense. Perhaps I'm trying to wedge a difference between empathy and compassion which doesn't really exist? Can the two exist independently? Probably not.

 

[Ahleckz]

Integrity

Why do you say that? Without getting too far into utilitarianism, would it not be better to compromise your believes and change your actions from the norm in order to achieve a positive outcome for others? Or do you believe that remaining true to yourself is the upmost important thing? If so, why?

Elaborate men (and women!), elaborate!

 

[Ahleckz]

Interesting, you didn't strike me as a humanist if I'm honest. Can't really qualify that, but it's nice to know you are.

EDIT:

As I understand humanism, it does essentially have a utilitarian perspective on moral values, however we do have this problem regarding the ego and one will always come at the expense of the other. I do believe compassion/empathy is a highly important trait, but currently, I'd have to say my over-riding concern and value is that of defining purpose. Without purpose, we have no pride. Without purpose, we have no aim, desire or anything to drive accomplishment; we are simply meandering. It's unused potential, and that is during our finite lives is a terrible crime; part of the human condition which should be addressed.

Without purpose we default to nihlism and madness. Even Neiztsche understood this.

Both interesting points.

Not sure what you had me pegged as, or why I didn't strike you as a humanist but I'm glad that you're glad!
I don't tend to discuss philosophy much on here, I've done most of the discussions before and I find debating many philosophical things online quite draining and useless.

There's really nothing I can add to your view, it's a bit difficult to argue against having purpose. I suppose my view of passion and yours of purpose are quite closely linked.

 

[Ahleckz]

OP's question wasn't to choose 1 value that encompassed everything and was all we needed, he just wanted to brag about being in a commercial or something like that heheh.

Cynic. I just applied to get into the audition stage. Why do I want to be in the advert? To try and further the idea of humanism? To get a free tshirt or to get £500? You decide.

 

[Ahleckz]

Yes, I think that remaining true to yourself is the most important thing. If you do what you believe to be right, even if others don't think it's right, then I think that is an important value. What the worst thing people can do is to do something that they believe to be wrong.

That is why I picked integrity, because if you have integrity, your intentions are always good, and even if someone doesn't agree with the outcome, your actions were not intended to do evil, but to do good.

I disagree. I think that people often do things that they don't believe is right because it benefits a greater number, or goes beyond gaining self satisfaction or adulation from a group. I think if people strived to uphold their integrity in everything that they do then there would be many sticking points where the 'good' (I'm getting hung up on utilitarianism, sorry) isn't achieved because it conflicts with ones own idea of what is right.

I suppose it depends on what you place more value on, the action itself or the outcome of the action. I would prefer to provide a 'good' outcome through a 'bad' action rather than vice versa.

The reason I didn't put it into speakers corner is that I wanted it to appeal to a broad audience, and speakers corner can be daunting for some I think.

 

[Ahleckz]

I still don't understand what they hope to achieve by dicking a load of money up the wall to advertise a belief system?



surely the money would be better spend actually upholding those beliefs.

Lifting from their site:

new campaign to communicate the Humanist values of fairness, equality, reason and compassion. They’re the values that bind society together. They’re your values, and we want you to tell the world about them in the first ever Humanist TV commercial.

Research suggests that most people in the UK are secular in their outlook on life. We would go further. We think most people are essentially Humanist, but they don’t know it, because they’ve never heard of Humanism! We think it’s high time they did.

 

[Ahleckz]

So instead of using the money to save a couple of hundred lives for another few months you waste it thinking a bunch of daytime tv watchers will convert upon seeing Ahleckz read out a poorly prepared statement he got of the internet?


Fair enough, not sure i follow the logic but great.

Money could always be better spent, no matter what you're doing. I don't know how you would promote humanist ideas without getting the message out there. I suspect (and their research seems to back this up - though I'm unsure where they got it from) that many people don't know what humanism is (and indeed there is debate about what it means today as Castiel touched on). Therefore, they are trying to raise awareness. Humanism isn't really about saving lives, it's about believing that reason, ethics and justice are the most important things and rejecting ideas such as pseudoscience and superstition in order to live a 'better' life.

Like I said, I've already answered the question and submitted my application. I just thought this would make for an interesting conversation. I'm not trying to find the answer here, and nor is there a correct one to be found.

I'm not sure where they are planning on advertising but I imagine (or hope) that it won't be between Jeremy Kyle and Bargain Hunt.