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Chapter 8

Value is the part of the argument that puts meaning behind what one is trying to argue. Throughout an argument the goal is to put ones values on display for others and use those values to drive the cause of your argument. In chapter 8, the book define value as “a conception of the desirable” (p.122). Then it goes on to explaining how a value can be both positive and negative, for every positive value statement there will always be at least one antithesis. When it comes to arguing values, there are two different ways of doing so, one can either present other positive values that opposes the already stated values, or one can bring up negative values which one connects to the positive values that have been presented.

There are also terminal and instrumental values that each individual has in their core of values. These values include the ends a person admire, such as happiness, wealth, health and so on. Tese sort of values will also reflect the means which a person value in order to reach the ends, these can be hard work, responsibility, helpfulness, faith, among other things. According to studies done by Rokeach, terminal values are the ones that are in the center focus of an individual’s value system. Most people in order to achieve their terminal values such as wealth, they need to apply instrumental values such as hard work, so they use the means that they might value to obtain the ends that they value.

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