Value
All action employs scarce means to attain the most valued ends. Man has the choice of using the scarce means for various alternative ends, and the ends that he chooses are the ones he values most highly. The less urgent wants are those that remain unsatisfied.[1]
Preferences
Actors can be interpreted as ranking their ends along a scale of values, or scale of preferences. These scales differ for each person, both in their content and in their orders of preference. Furthermore, they differ for the same individual at different times.[1]
Value and Ends
Value is the importance that acting man attaches to ultimate ends. Only to ultimate ends is primary and original value assigned. Means are valued derivatively according to their serviceableness in contributing to the attainment of ultimate ends. Their valuation is derived from the valuation of the respective ends. They are important for man only as far as they make it possible for him to attain some ends.
Value is not intrinsic, it is not in things. It is within us; it is the way in which man reacts to the conditions of his environment.
Neither is value in words and doctrines. It is reflected in human conduct. It is not what a man or groups of men say about value that counts, but how they act. The oratory of moralists and the pompousness of party programs are significant as such. But they influence the course of human events only as far as they really determine the actions of men.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Murray N. Rothbard. "A. Ends and Values", 5. Further Implications, Human Action, online version, referenced 2009-05-12.
- ↑ Ludwig von Mises. "2. The Scale of Value", IV. A FIRST ANALYSIS OF THE CATEGORY OF ACTION, Human Action, online version, referenced 2009-05-12.
See also
- Wikipedia page on value