Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

'Intrinsic value' is an oxymoron. 'Value' is a social construct.


The conclusion I came to is that "intrinsic value" is fundamentally an extroverted (object-oriented) rather than introverted (subject-oriented) concept, to use Jungian terminology. In other words, the subject projects their psychological evaluation "into" the object. The path to reconciling the two usages of language is to scope the subject, e.g.:

- to human beings (subject), food (object) has "intrinsic" value

- to Americans, US dollars have "intrinsic" value

- to Redditors, karma has "intrinsic" value

etc

Interesting aside -- this is also how falling in love works (overvaluation of the object via the subject's projection of value).




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: