{"id":52353,"date":"2008-10-27T13:04:09","date_gmt":"2008-10-27T12:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/attivita\/values-obstacle-or-opportunity\/"},"modified":"2008-10-27T13:04:09","modified_gmt":"2008-10-27T12:04:09","slug":"values-obstacle-or-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"attivita","link":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/attivita\/values-obstacle-or-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Values: an obstacle or an opportunity?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> <\/p>\n<p>Affirming values in an abstract way is a facile exercise; practicing and respecting values demands commitment and clear terms of reference. Such guidelines can only exist within a context of confrontation between secular values and religious ethics, the meeting point of the two representing a universal value system.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> <\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;death of God&#8221;, the secularization of society and loss of certainty people underwent in the 1900s left them with a series of beliefs that led to an objective evaluation of individual behavior, rather than a reflection solely on values per se. We have adopted a sort of Kantian approach: &#8220;act on any given occasion as though your behavior could be elevated to a universal norm.&#8221; However, can ethical behavior be separated from its consequences? Such a discussion demands common ground, but finding shared values is a complex matter: values can neither be negotiated, nor chosen by majority vote. This is evident, for example, when specific values are not defended in legal norms and lead people to be &#8220;conscientious objectors&#8221;. Recent debates on biomedical research, abortion, euthanasia and similar subjects confirm &#8211; both for laypeople and the church &#8211; the centrality of the individual in defining civil society. (This does not stop the various sides of the debate from arguing over what defines the individual&#8230;)<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> <\/p>\n<p>What with globalization, the individual risks taking a back seat to technology (John Paul II spoke of &#8220;the fatality of blind mechanisms&#8221;). Against this neo-functional approach to labor, especially as regards a creeping lack of solidarity, values must be promoted that encourage training programs and respect for the environment, for example. A &#8220;human ecology&#8221; through &#8220;sustainable flexibility&#8221; must preserve those conditions that make work acceptable and that maintain a certain level of sanity in our increasingly rushed world.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> <\/p>\n<p>What role should politics &#8211; which translate our values into norms &#8211; play? Benedict XVI recently called on Catholics to make their voices heard in politics, yet politics is generally considered an improper arena for working out moral issues. Value-oriented questions must be dealt with in a broad pluralistic environment. Advancing the &#8220;value frontier&#8221; also means taking advantage of the subsidiariety principle &#8211; both vertically and horizontally &#8211; as evidenced by volunteer work, public-private collaboration, corporate charity programs, and so on, as long as everyone&#8217;s responsibilities are clearly defined.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> <\/p>\n<p>Affirming values in an abstract way is a facile exercise; practicing and respecting values demands commitment and clear terms of reference. Such guidelines can only exist within a context of confrontation between secular values and religious ethics, the meeting point of the two representing a universal value system.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2354,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"freetags":[],"tipologiaattivita":[2338],"tag_tecnica":[],"temi_aspen":[],"attivita_internaz_in_essere":[],"attivita_internaz_concluse":[],"studi_e_ricerche":[],"primi_nel_tema":[],"tag_tecnici":[],"tag_formato":[],"class_list":["post-52353","attivita","type-attivita","status-publish","hentry","tipologiaattivita-roundtable-for-the-aspen-junior-fellows"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita\/52353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attivita"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita\/52353\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"freetags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/freetags?post=52353"},{"taxonomy":"tipologiaattivita","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipologiaattivita?post=52353"},{"taxonomy":"tag_tecnica","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_tecnica?post=52353"},{"taxonomy":"temi_aspen","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/temi_aspen?post=52353"},{"taxonomy":"attivita_internaz_in_essere","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita_internaz_in_essere?post=52353"},{"taxonomy":"attivita_internaz_concluse","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita_internaz_concluse?post=52353"},{"taxonomy":"studi_e_ricerche","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/studi_e_ricerche?post=52353"},{"taxonomy":"primi_nel_tema","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primi_nel_tema?post=52353"},{"taxonomy":"tag_tecnici","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_tecnici?post=52353"},{"taxonomy":"tag_formato","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_formato?post=52353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}