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economics and sociology. A different understanding of a concept across disciplines<br />
potentially causes confusion and incorrectly creates the impression that values and<br />
valuation have different roles in different spheres of life. The role of values is not<br />
confined to questions of right and wrong, or of what is good and bad, or of aesthetics.<br />
Values and valuing are integral to all areas of human reasoning. As Rokeach explains:<br />
Persons are not detached or indifferent to the world; they do not stop<br />
with a sheerly factual view of their experience. Explicitly or implicitly<br />
they are continually regarding things as good or bad, pleasant or<br />
unpleasant, beautiful or ugly, appropriate or inappropriate, true or<br />
false, virtues or vices.<br />
Where do values come from?<br />
Rokeach, 1979, p. 16.<br />
There have been a number of theories regarding the origin of values. Values have been<br />
attributed to human feelings and emotions (Brentano, cited Jacquette, 2004; Damasio,<br />
1994; Seedhouse, 2005; Stevenson, 1944, cited Edel, 1953), desire (Ehrenfels, cited<br />
Rescher, 1982), society and culture (Kohlberg, 1975; Raz, 2003; Rokeach, 1979) and<br />
life experience (Hutcheon, 1972). Some theorists acknowledge a complex mix of a<br />
variety of sources (Hutcheon, 1972; Magendanz, 2003; Rokeach, 1979).<br />
Brentano saw the basis of valuation in emotions, in particular the contrast between<br />
favourable emotions (such as loving and liking) and negative emotions (such as hating<br />
and disliking) (cited Rescher, 1982, p. 51). As human beings, we all experience times<br />
when our emotions overtly influence the decisions we make, for example, in the form<br />
of sentimental attachment. It is easy to justify keeping an item which is effectively<br />
worthless, but for the sentimental, emotional attachment which reminds us of a happy<br />
time, or a loved one. The box of items in the loft which have no monetary value and<br />
serve no purpose (and are rarely even looked at) are not disposed of because of the<br />
emotional and sentimental value. Brentano, however, located value judgements in the<br />
objective realm, and thereby argued that value judgements could be assessed as being<br />
either correct or incorrect. To borrow the example from Baumgartner & Pasquerella<br />
(2004), two friends examine a striking piece of art work. One friend finds the painting<br />
breathtakingly beautiful. The other disagrees and experiences displeasure at viewing the<br />
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