Value Maps

Objectives

The objective of Value Maps is to present a value system in a way that facilitates:

• Clear understanding: Value Maps can help you to understand both the nature and role of your own value system. They can help you to understand its nature by forcing you to uncover all of the values and beliefs that consitute it and the arguments that link them. You may find that you have grand principles of value underpinning the value system, or you may find that it consists largely of isolated value intuitions without any value principles. Value Maps can help you to understand the role of your value system by uncovering the value questions that it helps you to answer and act on.

• Finding value principles: if your value system lacks principles of value, creating a Value Map is the first step towards finding a value principle that is rational for you.

• Testing existing value principles: if your value system already has principles of value (which is likely if you belong to an organised religion), Value Maps can help you to analyse how useful they are in providing purpose to your life and guidance. You can then use Value System Search to compare their performance with other value principles, and if it compares badly either try to increase its usefulness or change to another value principle.

• Clear communication: Value Maps enable you to clearly communicate the nature, role and usefulness of your value system to others. Value Maps are therefore the first step to help others to find a suitable value system for them. See Value System Search for more information.

Elements of a Value Map

A Value Map consists of different coloured boxes that represent different types of values and beliefs, and different kinds of lines that represent different kinds of connection between them. These different elements are shown in the diagram below, with the meaning of each explained within the box.


To highlight some points from this:

• Logical argument: this is represented by the black block arrows. See Coherent Explanation of Facts for what is meant by a logical argument, and Belief System Analysis for an explanation of how this is represented graphically. For value statements to be logically justified, at least one premise must itself by a value statement (see Value - what is it? for an explanation of this).

• Value question: these are purple boxes (purple for mystery). These are the issues where you either already have value intuitions that guide you, or where you do not and would like guidance e.g. in Nietzsche's belief system, a value question is 'How much should you focus on helping yourself and how much on helping others?'. These are a bit like the facts to be explained in Belief System Analysis, in that a value system is designed to answer the value questions just as a belief system is designed to explain the facts. See Value - how to find it? for more information.

• Value statements: these are generally orange boxes (orange for mystical). Value statements are beliefs which state what has value or what ought or should be done. Value principles are those value statements which provide logical justification for answers to the value questions e.g. in Nietzsche's belief system, the central value principle is 'To have intrinsic value humans must actualise their potential for self-perfection'. This helps to justify two other value principles that 'The meaning of each person's life is to perfect themselves if they are strong, or if not to help the strong perfect themselves', and 'Society should be organised in order to enable the strong to perfect themselves'.

• Value intuitions: these are yellow boxes (yellow for light that guides the way). They are value statements that you believe intuitively. They are the equivalent to the facts for support in grey boxes in Belief Maps, in that they can provide justification but do not themselves need to be justified. Those value intuitions that correspond to the value questions are placed above the questions. If they are logically consistent with the value statements that answer the value questions, there is a black line joining them to the question. I would suggest that in Nietzsche's belief system, a value intuition is that 'For humans to have intrinsic value they must be unique in the universe'.

• Beliefs from Belief Map: these are beliefs not values, which are nonetheless necessary for the logical justification of the values. For instance, Nietzsche's value principle that 'To have intrinsic value humans must actualise their potential for self-perfection' is justified by the belief that 'Humans are unique in their potential degree of power as self-perfection' together with the value intuition given above. The beliefs would normally be contained within a Belief Map positioned below the Value Map.

• Definitions: technical terms used in the value system are defined in pink boxes, with the term itself given in capital letters. When these terms are used in values they are also put in capital letters so that you know there is a special definition for them and can then look it up. It made sense to do this rather than to use arrows between the definitions and the values that use them, since many values may use the same concept and it would be visually too complicated. If a definition cascades, with the definition using concepts that themselves have a special meaning, the definitions of sub-concepts are linked by black line arrows.

• Incoherence: areas of incoherence are shown in red (red for error or warning). Logical inconsistency between values is generally shown by a red line between the values in question. However, for inconsistency between value intuitions that correspond to value questions and the value statements that answer the value questions, inconsistency is shown by a red line between the value intuition and the value question. If the value statement does not provide an adequate answer to the value question, there is red line between the two of them. The lack of a value to be logically justified (providing it is not a vale intuition) is shown by the value being outlined in red. This may be either because there is no argument for it or the logic of the argument is not valid. For instance, if you don't find 'For humans to have intrinsic value they must be unique in the universe' in Nietzsche's belief system to be intuitively true, you would colour it orange and put a red frame around it. It then becomes a basic value assumption that the value system requires but which you are not intuitively drawn to.

Layout of a Value Map

Value Maps consist of a cluster of values structured as shown above with the value questions at the top, and answers to them with their justifications underneath. If there are value intutions concerning the value questions, these are placed above the value questions. Definitions are put into a separate cluster above the Value Map.

When a Value Map is combined with a Belief Map, the overall layout is as follows:


This imagines that Epistemology contains the most foundational beliefs that inform the Explanations and Theory, while Explanations and Theory form much of the basis for the Value System. Of course, one could look at it in a different way and see the Value System as foundational, including the value of truth. But it has to arranged in one way and this arrangement seemed to work best for the example of Nietzsche's belief system. The Defintions cluster can be placed anywhere, but the top made sense since it is probably the first place one looks.


Process for creating a Value Map

In creating a Value Map of your value system, in theory you could start at any part of the Value Map first, and work out from it to the others. But in practise, it is probably best to follow the following order:

1. 1. Find your value questions: it is the answering of these questions which defines the purpose of the value system, and so working from them ensures that you keep focused. Ask yourself what are the value questions that you need answers to in order to guide your decisions and put them in a row in the Value Map.
2. 2. Find your value intuitions: for each value question, ask yourself whether you already have a intuitive answer to it. This value intuition may be unconscious and so can best be revealed by thinking of decisions you have already made when faced with the value question. If you have a value intuition, put it above the value answer, if not leave the space above the value question empty.
3. 3. Find your value principles: for each value intuition that you have, ask yourself 'why is this valuable?' Write down the answer and for this value statement again ask yourself 'why is this valuable?'. Key asking why until you get to a value statement that is so basic that it cannot be justified by anything else. If you repeat this process for each value intuition and end up with the same value statement, then this is likely to be a value principle for you. You are then ready to move onto stage 4. If there are no common value statements that are behind your value intuitions, then you will need to find a value principle by using the Value System Search tool.
4. 4. Test your value principles: test how useful your value principles are in providing purpose to your life and guidance. You can do this by highlighting the incoherencies in red on the Value Map: are there logically consistencies between the Value Map and the relevant Belief Map? (mark with red lines); are there basic value assumptions that you do not intuitively agree with? (mark with red frames); are the value principles able to explain and justify your existing value intuitions by providing answers to the value questions that are consistent with the value intuitions? (mark with red lines). Finally, are there value questions which are not answered by the value principles? Once you have done this, you are ready to communicate your Value Map to others, and to compare the performance of your value principles with others in the Value System Search tool.