Value Outlook

The view on the nature and function of the object in relation to the subject in social life.

Phenomena and questions of value are one of the most widespread phenomena and most fundamental questions in human life. Value outlook is a fundamental theoretical concept in the philosophical study and generalization of this phenomenon. It includes common intellectual contents in the sphere of economics, politics, law, morality, aesthetics, religion, etc. As a common view of value, it chiefly reflects the meaning of the object for the subject, i.e., the nature and degree to which the object satisfies the subject’s needs. Value outlook is chiefly the study of the nature, foundation and types of value, of the relation of value to knowledge and practice, of the worth of man and social values and their relationship, etc.

With regard to the social values of man, it refers to the relationship between the subject and the object in social life in terms of their reciprocal contributions and claims. The measure of values lies in the degree of such contributions and claims. The worth of man, unlike the value of things, lies in the autonomous creation of man. In this sense, man is the soul of all things. The worth of man includes two aspects: One is the value of the individual to others, groups and society, i.e., the degree to which the individual contributes to and satisfies society, i.e. the social value of the individual; the second is the value of the individual to himself or herself, i.e. the self-worth of the individual, which depends on the degree to which his or her acts satisfy the needs of the self. As an object, as the object of social needs, man should also enjoy the rights granted by the society. As the unity of the subject and the object, man is manifested as a unity of dedication and enjoyment in value. It is one-sided to separate the two. In its ideal form, the social value of the individual should be a harmonious unity of the individual as a social object and as a social subject, i.e., a correct combination of dedication and enjoyment, responsibilities and rights and interests. However, the situation varies greatly at different stages of development of human society. In class society based upon private property, an individual’s self-worth and social value are often contradictory or even antagonistic. It is only in the communist society, where the exploitation of man by man has been abolished, that man’s dedication and enjoyment, responsibilities and rights and interests can achieve a real unity. Hence, up until this moment, there are no universal values.

In The German Ideology, Marx and Engels made a profound analysis of this historical phenomenon, holding the extent to which people’s interests are satisfied and the extent of the freedom won always correspond to the level of development of the productive forces of society. When the development of the productive forces of society is low, it is only possible for the interests of some persons to be satisfied at the expense of the interests of others (the majority), and similarly, for one part of the population to be free while the other part is not, and so past history can only be a movement in opposition. In other words, in a state of antagonism of interests, it is fundamentally impossible to have any universal values such as freedom and democracy.

Value outlooks have epochal nature, national nature, class nature and diversity. Contemporary China must uphold the system of socialist core values, cultivate and practice the socialist core value outlook, and construct Chinese values.