Subjectivity Theory: Values are Subjective

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Many value judgments are subjective as they are based on personal principles. Most societies don’t share the same views because they reflect personal preferences rather than objective facts (Pojman & Fieser). Values are not universal; people don’t share the same views or opinions because of the individual’s experiences in life which lead to them forming their own opinions on certain matters. This results in a different value to another person who has had a similar experience but formed a different judgment (Ethical Subjectivism - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy).
Objectivism is a theory where there is a set of rules that are universally valid for all people and social environments. Objectivity is based on a perspective that is independent of an individual’s belief (Pojman & Fieser).
“There is a great uniformity among the actions of men, in all nations and ages, and that human nature remains still the same, in its principles and operations,” (Pojman & Fieser)
This quote states that in all ‘nations and ages’ the principles formed through human nature have resulted in a set of universal rules. However, values are not objective, in order for a judgment to be supported, society needs to be able to relate to the vision, accept it and see why it would be a good value to support. Where Louis P. Pojman and James Fieser (1990) write “Humans obey these laws because they can perceive the laws inner reasonableness” it is being stated that society obey these universal laws because they can relate to the overall idea of the judgment. While this is true, there are still problems. Even if only a small majority of society were to disagree with a certain viewpoint, the likelihood of that value to be supported universally is small. ...

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... personal judgments and experiences than objective facts (Pojman & Fieser).

Works Cited

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Pojman, Louis P. Ethics. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Pub. Co., 1990. Print.
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