The value of a person

[sobrique]

If one starts from the assumption that in life there are people who are scum, and there are people who are saints.

The question is though, how do you measure a person?

Is it by their children?
By their impact on others?
By their wisdom and insight?
By their adherance to a moral code?

And another question:
[Poll #299286]

Comments

[scarletdemon.livejournal.com]

By their impact on others. I don't mean that they should impress others, necessarily, just that they should not harm them and should be helpful and kind as the basis of their behaviour.

I couldn't vote in the poll. My OWN opinion is most important to me. I'd seek a the views of another on a subject that I knew less about than they did...or knew nothing about.

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

I have to say irrelevant. Hitler had some great, and very true, quotes, even if he was a madman.

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Hitler was definitely one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. Mad he may have been, but I don't think there's much doubt that he was also a genius.

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

I think that if he were just a touch less mad, he would be hailed as one of the greatest statesmen ever. After all, he increased Germany's land enormously, without going to war at all. Unfortunately, he desperately wanted a war, and was consumed by hatred.

[karen2205]

It's nowhere near this black and white.

eg. if the debate involved a technical scientific point and one argument came from someone with relevant experience and another from an environmental campaigner with a political agenda, I'd take all that information into consideration when determining what I thought about the issue.

Where there isn't that degree of technical ability required, I rate arguments on their merits, but I take into account what I know about the person behind the opinion when assessing the relative merits of the arguments.

And you, my love, need a lesson in apostrophe use.

It's is a contraction of 'it is', and is never used when you mean 'belonging to it', where the correct usage is 'its'.

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

I do?
I thought I had that one pegged.
Ah well. (Goes and flicks through recent posts to find 'em)

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Hmm, "s/it's own miracle/its own miracle/g"

Unless you mean the poll, which sadly I can't edit :)

[jambon-gris.livejournal.com]

"The question is though, how do you measure a person?"

with a ruler of course

"do not ask a natural philosopher to measure a mans soul"

(or some thing like that) Descates

[apostle13.livejournal.com]

The value of a person, an interesting question indeed. But the term value seems like it could be many-sided: financial value, social value, political value, it all depends on the axis of measurement chosen.

The scum-to-saint spectrum seems to intermingle social and religious value, contexts which while perhaps parallel are certainly not equal. It also depends critically on the person doing the measuring, since any value axis will be subjective. Uncovering an absolute and objective scheme for value would certainly be a monumental discovery, particularly regarding religion.

The value of a person is probably dependent upon time too, changing with age, experiences and actions.
In my opinion though, the value of a person is most dependent upon the person/system evaluating them.

e.g. violent teenagers - of little value to society, but of much greater value to the military.

In fact, evaluating a person will tell you as much about the person measuring as the person being measured, and this is where I personally think much interest lies in the exercise.

For me, learning the "value" of a person certainly seems interesting and useful, but how much more interesting and useful to reveal the "scheme of valuation" of a person.

Essentially, asking person A about person B's "value" uncovers person A's "values".

I have probably digressed/rambled here, but I think I might have ended by illuminating a "valuable" point. ;-)

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

So in asking the value, you see what their 'values' are?

That's a perceptive angle to take on the subject. I think you're probably right. I shall have to pose the question more often :)