VALUES
WARM-UP
I. What do you understand by the word “value”? Try to write a few
dictionary-type definitions.
Principles or standards of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is important
in life.
Something (such as a principle or quality) intrinsically valuable or desirable.
The beliefs people have especially about what is right and wrong and what is
most important in life, that control their behaviour.
Discuss your definitions in group in order to improve and to make them
both more accurate and more dictionary-like.
Now write down the four most valuable things you have, either in terms of
objects, skills or people, and discuss whether these things are invaluable or not
(i.e. whether it would be possible to live without them).
Ability to constantly explore this world, my job, people around me,
opportunities that my life gives me.
Add a few more items to your list and see if you can assign a monetary
value to them.
My flat, books, skills….
II. Answer the questions individually and then discuss the answers in
groups.
Which do you value more?
1. Your sense of taste or smell? SMELL
2. Your mind or your body? BOTH
3. Your arms or your legs? BOTH
4. Your own happiness or your (future) child's happiness? SECOND
5. Your friends or your family? FAMILY
6. Your job or your dreams? DREAMS
7. What you've received or what you've given? WHAT I`VE GIVEN
8. Your money or your spirit? SPIRIT
9. Your religion or your citizenship? CITIZENSHIP
10. This life or the next? THIS LIFE
READING
Read the text and think of the moral of the story.
Text 1
Once upon a time, a greedy, rich man hired a great mathematician. The rich
man wanted the mathematician to find the best way for him to make the greatest
profit in everything he did. The rich man was building a huge safe, and his greatest
dream was to fill it with gold and jewels.
The mathematician was shut away for months in his study, before finally
believing he had found the solution. But he soon found there were some errors in
his calculations, and he started all over again.
One night he appeared at the rich man's house, with a big smile on his face:
"I found it!" he said, "My calculations are perfect." The rich man was going on a
long journey the next day, and didn't have time to listen. He promised the
mathematician he would pay him double his wages if he would take charge of the
business while he was away, and put the new formulas into practice. Excited by his
new discovery, the mathematician was delighted to accept.
When the rich man returned, months later, he found that all of his
possessions had gone. Furious, he went to ask for an explanation from the
mathematician. The mathematician calmly told him what he had done. He had
given everything away to people. The rich man couldn't believe it, but the
mathematician explained it further.
“For months I analyzed how a rich man could gain the maximum be so nefit,
but what I could do was always limited. There's a limit to how much one man can
do by himself. Then I understood the key was that many people could help us to
achieve the aim. So the conclusion was that helping others was the best way to get
more and more people to benefit us.”
Disappointed and furious, the greedy man stormed off (сердито ушёл),
desperate at having lost everything to the hare-brained (безмозглые, глупые,
безрассудные) schemes of a madman. However, while he was walking away
disconsolately (безутешно), several neighbours ran over, worried about him. All
of them had been helped when the mathematician shared out the rich man's
fortune. They felt so grateful to him that they offered him the hospitality of their
houses, and anything such a special man might need. The neighbours even argued
over who would get to help him.
Over the next few days, he saw the full results of what the mathematician
had calculated. Wherever he went he was received with great honour, and
everyone was willing to help him in whatever way they could. He realized that his
not having anything had given him much, much more.
In this way, he managed to quickly set up flourishing businesses, but this
time he followed the brilliant mathematician's advice. No longer did he keep his
riches in a safe, or anything like it. Instead, he shared out his fortune among a
hundred friends, whose hearts he had converted into the safest, most grateful and
fruitful of safes.
COMPREHENSION
Do you agree that everything we give to others will, sooner or later, return
to us, whether or not it is in a form we expected?
Yes, I do agree with this statement. I believe in the law of the boomerang:
whatever we throw out into the world eventually comes back to us. Just as a
boomerang returns to its sender, our actions reverberate back to us in some form or
another, shaping our experiences and influencing our destiny.
DISCUSSION
I. Discuss the following points regarding moral values.
1. Is it important to have certain values and principles?
I reckon that it is important to have certain values and principles as they help
us make decision. Moreover, they keep us centered on defining the boundaries of
what should or should not be conceived, implemented or pursued as objectives,
strategy and outcomes.
2. What are your values?
Honesty, family, education, hard-work, self-improvement, creativity,
flexibility, justice.
3. Have people's values changed over the generations? (e.g. What things
do our parents and did our grandparents value?) If so, how?
I think our grandparents and parents valued more family and friends than we
do. Today education and financial stability are valued more than ever before.
4. Do your values conflict with those of people around you?
Yes. Some people don’t see any point in getting high education or any
education at all. Others think that romantic relationships is the only meaning of
life.
5. Do you put your principles into action?
Yes, I do.
II. Look at the ten situations. Evaluate them in terms of how right or
wrong you think they are. You should use a mark ranging from 1 (perfectly
acceptable) to 5 (totally unacceptable). First do this individually and then follow
it with a group discussion.
1. Kidnapping and holding а child for ransom (выкуп). 5
2. Politicians, to get money for themselves, using their influence to get а law
passed which they know to be against the public's interest. 5
3. Smoкing in lifts. 5
4. Buying stolen goods. 5
5. Newspapers treating crime as news so as to make а known criminal
appear heroic. 5
6. Driving while well over the legal limit of alcohol. 5
7. Not voting in а national election. 1
8. Tax evasion (уклонение от уплаты налогов) by withholding (сокрытие)
important information. 5
9. Cheating on your partner. 5
10. Keeping ₤ 10 of extra change given by а clerk by mistake. 5
III. Look at the title of the quiz "How strong are your moral values"? Try
to invent your own questions, which you then try out on each other.
1. You find a wallet on the street with cash and identification inside. What
do you do?
2. If you discovered that a close friend was cheating on their partner, what
would you do?
3. How do you feel about charitable donations?
4. If you witness someone being bullied, what is your reaction?
5. If a decision you make today could negatively impact future generations,
would you still proceed if it benefited you now?
IV. Discuss Butler's quotation and decide whether morality changes from
country to country, generation to generation. Compare your view of morality
with your parents' and grandparents' generations.
Morality is the custom of one's country and the current feeling of one’s
peers. Cannibalism is moral in а cannibal country. (Samuel Butler)
Butler (English writer, painter 1835-1902) also had this to say: "Morality
turns on whether the pleasure precedes or follows the pain. Thus, it is immoral to
get drunk because the headache comes after the drinking, but if the headache
came first, and the drunkenness afterwards, it would be moral to get drunk".
Butler's reflections on morality highlight its fluidity and dependence on
cultural context and societal norms. Morality does indeed change from country to
country and generation to generation, reflecting evolving values and beliefs.
Comparing my moral perspective with those of my parents and grandparents
reveals significant shifts in attitudes toward individual rights, environmental
responsibilities, and the implications of our choices. These changes underscore the
dynamic nature of morality as it adapts to new challenges and societal
advancements.
READING
An American psychologist, Kohlberg, made up some moral judgement
stories, to evaluate adult morality. Read one of these stories and then answer the
questions that follow.
Text 2
In Europe, а woman was near death from а particular kind of саnсеr. There
was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was а form of radium that
а druggist (фармацевт) in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was
expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him
to make. Не paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for а small dose of the
drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow
money, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost.
Не told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let
him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to
make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to
steal the drug for his wife.
COMPREHENSION
Think about the answers alone and then discuss them in pairs.
You're the judge
1. Should Heinz have done that? Was it actually wrong or right? Why?
It’s hard to say if he should have done that or not, and yet I am sure he
would have paid the full amount if the druggist sold him the drug getting only 50
% at first.
2. Is it а husband's duty to steal the drug for his wife, if he can get it nо
other way? Would а good husband do it?
I don’t think that it is a duty, it’s rather one of the ways to save his wife. If
there is no other way, a good husband might do so, I guess.
3. Did the druggist have the right to charge so much when there was no
law setting а limit on the price? Why?
He has the right since he is the monopolist. But it’s an ethical issue rather
than a financial one.
4. If the husband does not feel very close or affectionate (любящий,
привязчивый) to his wife, should he still steal the drug?
I think in this situation whether the husband loves his wife or not doesn’t
play any role. It is a moral question and it concerns the life of a human being.
5. Suppose it wasn't Heinz's wife who was dying of cancer, but it was
Heinz's best friend. His friend didn't have any money, and there was no one in
his family willing to steal the drug. Should Heinz steal the drug for his friend?
Why?
I think Heinz would do so, he seems to be a caring person. A friend in need
is a friend indeed.
6. Suppose it was а person whom he knew that was dying but who was
not а good friend. There was no one else who could get him the drug. Would it
be right to steal it for him? Why?
And even in this case I would say yes, cause I am sure that it is necessary to
help people no matter what but when it doesn’t hurt others.
7. What is there to be said on the side of the law in this case?
The price of such a drug should be controlled by the government.
8. Would you steal the drug to save your wife's/husband’s life? Why?
I hope I’ll never have to do something like that, but I think I might do it if
there is no other way to help this person.
9. If you were dying of cancer but were strong enough, would you steal
he drug to save your own life?
Yes, I would.
10. Heinz broke into the store and stоlе the drug and gave it to his wife.
Не was caught and brought before the judge. Should the judge send Heinz to
jail for stealing, or should he let him go free? Why?
I think he should let him go free and ask the druggist why he sets so high
prices. Heinz was just saving his wife and the way he did it didn’t hurt anybody.
11. What are the implications (подразумевается, смысл) of letting
Heinz go free?
He’ll pay all the amount of money.
12. Let’s extend this idea to AIDS. Do pharmaceutical companies have а
right to make а profit out of the millions afflicted with AIDS who are
desperate to prolong their lives?
I think that such kind of medication must be financed by the state.
CASE-STUDY
Imagine that you are members of a government agency which only has
enough money to fund two of the projects. Firstly, discuss the value of such
projects, secondly which two not to fund, and finally compare your decisions
with other groups.
1. А group of marine archaeologists have found Atlantis.
2. А group of genetic engineers have developed a way to produce square
fruit.
3. А group of metallurgists and alchemists claim that they can convert the
Grand Canyon into gold.
4. These computer scientists have developed а system for people to learn
anything without having tо study.
Without scientific progress the national health would deteriorate;
without scientific progress we could nо longer hope for improvement
in our standard of living or for an increased number of jobs for our
citizens; and without scientific progress we could not have maintained
our liberties against tyranny. (V. Bush, U.S. presidential science
adviser)
