Book Title: World of Philosophy
Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan
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INDIAN CONCEPTION OF VALUES
Dr.T.K.BADRINATH
Man has a lot of desires. These desires are endless and of different kinds. When we make efforts to fulfill it, it is called a value. So, we are said to have "values" in life. These values play an important role in our lives. They are the foundations of our character. Values occupy a very important place in our life. "One of the distinguishing features of Indian philosophy is that, throughout its long history, it has consistently given the foremost place to values." Indian philosophy may also be described as essentially a philosophy of values. The meaning of value can be best understood by comparing it with that of another, viz. fact.
The object that is seen directly or known indirectly is what we mean by a 'fact'. It is the satisfaction of desire or the achievement of ends, as the result of knowing facts that is to be understood as 'value'. The object of liking' (ista), is the Sanskrit word used for denoting the word 'value' and therefore the term 'value' may be defined as 'that which is desired'. Values have their reality only in their fulfillment, and therefore needs to be actualized before it becomes a value. It is the cognition of a fact that suggests the idea of some value. It is this idea which, through awakening a desire, leads to its realisation. "In fact, a value is entitled to be called so only when it is thus prized or appreciated by us."
Value may also be defined as the object or content of desire. It is not always the end (ista) aimed at which is termed as 'value'; the means namely ista-sadhana are also described so. They can only be 'instrumental' in value, and not 'intrinsic' in value. The term 'value' is not only applied to the ends but also to its means. Thus for example, wealth is an instrumental value and the fulfillment of any of life's needs to which it leads, is an intrinsic one. Money, which is commonly taken as a means, becomes an end in itself in the case of a miser. Similarly, the satisfaction of hunger, which is of intrinsic worth, may come to be valued as a means to bodily health or power.
It is very clear that the notions of fact and value are closely connected with each other. Modern pragmatism, tries to explain these facts in terms of values and pure science does the reverse. Strictly speaking science does not deny values; it only assumes a neutral tendency or attitude towards them. The truth is that both the conceptions are needed for a proper explanation of the world and the life we lead in it. Human activities are consciously directed to an end. They are values in the fullest meaning of the term and we confine our attention to them, which are described in Sanskrit as Purusarthas or what are desired by man. All these four namely, Artha, Kama, Dharma and Moksha, put together are known as the Purusarthas, and they may roughly be translated in English as 'wealth', 'pleasure', 'virtue'
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