[Vnbiz] Staying to be a Leader -- the Champion of Values

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear sister Thu Huong & CACC,

Thanks for the note about my mother, Thu Huong.

As I wrote my previous message, I was afraid that someone would ask a tough
follow-up question.  And sure enough, here you are.  Can't avoid them! :-(

Values, are we born with them?  Or do we obtain them through learning?  The
answer is both.

Some values exist in all cultures of the world, anywhere, anytime, such as
love your neighbor, love your parents, be honest, be wise, do not murder,
etc.  These values are deemed intrinsic to human life.  It is almost like we
are born with them (although of course we have to learn them as we grow
up).  Upon these values, we develop a systems of law that are similar in all
human societies, such as the law against murder, law against stealing, law
against false witness.  In legal philosophy, we call these laws "*natural
law*" because it seems that we human naturally know these laws regardless of
who we are and where we are.

(Some legal philosophers stop at natural law.  But some others will take the
natural law theory a step further into the realm of religious reasoning,
like this:  Who put the natural law into the human heart?  Religious
answer:  God).

Other values may be developed later by us as our societies develop, such
as, right of abortion, right of privacy, gender equality, etc...

But, please note that this classification of "intrinsic human values"  and
"later-developed values" may not mean much either :-(  because you can
always make a philosophical argument that, say, the "right of privacy" or
"right not to be enslaved" are "intrinsic" to human life but we humans
happen to discover them a little late in our history.

It is probably simpler to look at the time line:  There are values that all
human societies have acquired since the beginning of time (such as love,
honesty, loyalty, etc.), and there are values that appear later in human
history, such as right of privacy, right of gender equality.  And as our way
of thinking and living develop, new values are being developed each day.
Say, how about the right to Internet access for all?

Regardless of what kind of value we are talking about, my thinking is that
we all have to learn them to master them (even though some values may just
happen even if we don't learn, like loving our parents and being loyal to
them).

But as values develop, we start to see many conflicting values, say slavery
v. anti-slavery, women first v. women equal to men :-), individual freedom
of speech v. state right to control speech, etc.  All these conflicting
values pose a practical problem:  How are we going to live together if our
values are in conflict?  How do smokers and anti-smokers live together?  How
do abortionists live together with abortion advocates?

How to solve this "living together" issue is the core of "social
engineering," i.e., structuring our society in a way that we all with
different ideas and values can live peacefully and happily together.
Sometimes we fail, and we turn to kill each other for our values, as history
has shown very often.

My answer here really leads to nowhere yet.  But I hope it helps outline the
general issues we face.

Have a great day, Thu Huong and all.  Incredible questions!

Hoanh


On 5/9/07, huong dang thu <hdangthu at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
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> Hi my bro and sis,
>
>
>
> Thax bro Hoanh. I love your message. I very interest in "value".
>
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> Some questions want to ask.
>
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>
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> Is "value" something that we have to train ourselves to have, or something
> that we got when we were born (naturally)?   For example, I believe
> 'purity' is a value. And I can find this value the best from the children.
> So, is purity a kind of values that we got when we were born?
>
>
>
> Because I find out that some "values" may change by time. And I think
> sometimes the changing values in this changing time go in conflict to each
> others. So how can we do to make sure that the value that we pursue doesn't
> fight the other's?
>
>
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> And, bro Hoanh. Really want to share with your mother and your fam. Wish
> you all the best!
>
>
>
> Wish my bro and sis energy,
>
> HeO
>
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
> Washington DC
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