I have noticed that when someone treats me like I am worthless, I believe that I am worthless. But what makes a person worthless? And what makes a person have worth? Is a serial killer worthless? Is it ok to think that a serial killer is in fact a worthless human being? Is anyone of worth simply because they say they are?
I noticed that when a person that I deem as worthless , stubbornly holds their head up high and ignores me, I tend to change my opinion of them… Maybe I have gone off point now…
Anyway, am I worthless? What makes me worthless or not worthless? That is my question…?
PG, as a girl a great deal of what determines your worth is going to have to do with your looks. Your weight, whether or not your hair is frizzy, whether you have big feet etc. After that comes manners. Can your date take you anyplace he wants without being embarrassed? Do you know which fork is the salad fork? After that, then you can maybe throw in some intellectual stuff like talk about philosophy or something like that. It could be the icing on the cake.
Why would you take their opinion for it, people don’t know even a small percentage of all that is out there…
Function. What that person can be used for. I have found very few worthless people in my life, they are usually liars, which makes all other uses problematic.
Their ability to be useful.
Not necessarily, I may need somebody killed.
Yes, if you treat them as such causes different moral problems. Thinking anything is ok.
No, if they are liars how could you trust that they are telling the truth.
Nope.
Are you of value to yourself or to the people around you? Do you take action, any action? Do you help? You post on these forums, providing interaction, that is of value to me. I would not call you worthless.
Eric have you ever heard of that thing that Kant talked about where people are supposed to be “ends in and of themselves”? I have a hazy recollection but I think it’s like one of those fundamental pillars of ethics type things.
Why do you value people on their usefulness in spite of this long standing ethical tradition of valuing them intrinsically as human beings?
The state of being alive is a symptom of valuing people on their usefulness. The difference between you and him may only be that he’s aware that he uses people. Awareness being necessary for power, so should that difference be correct then you’re in fact a very powerless person, in a sense perpetually being taken care of despite yourself.
Concerning your worth to them, you may be right, excluding pretenses of course.
It really can’t happen unless you’re unknown and stranded in the wilderness with no hope of rescue. (Even then the native wildlife will find use for you - if you want to count them.)
One persons burden is another’s customer for burden supplies and services.
Upon realizing they want nothing from you, you find that all that you wish to take from them could be done so without reciprocation. The only one’s willing to give without taking are those who would be fooled into treating you as one of worth to them despite the obvious fact to the contrary as shown by their initial lack of a reaction to you.
A large green flag would be if they rarely categorize people any more narrowly than that of being human, and consider all within that breeding type (and similar ones) to have fundamental unearned value. Just don’t bite the hand that feeds you - you can be sure that is the code of conduct they live by.
Your posts are a distraction from more quality posts, that gives you worth on this forum.
If you’re alive, that means you’re still worth something to yourself in some way or another.
It should be obvious that no entity is a fully informed judge of an others worth. Sane humans instinctively know this, and this is why when someone signals that he values himself strongly, the observer will almost automatically be inclined to think more highly of that person.
I feel like you are all talking too literally? About a person’s utilitarian use/ purpose?..
What I mean is … More along the lines of… What makes it true that I believe myself to deserve and have : respect, love, kindness, self esteem , admiration , love.
This as opposed to being someone who only deserves the lowest of the low and none of the above?
Ok… Suppose an ugly fat woman has all of the above. Then suppose there is a thin beautiful woman that treats herself horribly and allows men to treat her badly.
Ok so why does the fat ugly woman have more self worth/esteem/ respect ? Is it simply because she demands it and believes it ?
Or is there something more to it?
If someone treats me like trash over and over again… If that is all that I have ever known…why am I not trash?
Suppose the fat ugly woman is in fact being treated like trash every single day by everyone. Is she trash? Why isn’t she?
You do realize there’s no concrete answer to this question, right? Nobody is “right” or “wrong” when discussing the general character of a person, it’s all a matter of opinion. Opinions aren’t facts.
I have never read Kant. You may be right about him for all I know.
I treat all humans as being of value. I show respect and kindness to the best of my ability, regardless of their worth. Their worth comes from usefulness, while accepting that their usefulness is different for them and everyone else.
A analogy: I don’t like mushrooms, as a food. I don’t eat them, though I might if the option was starving or eating mushrooms. As a result, they have no worth/value/use to me. That does not mean I smack the food out of someone else hands if they are eating mushrooms. It is their choice to do so. I just don’t value them.
People are the same, if you provide no use to me, I give not worth. That doesn’t mean I destroy that which has no value to me, as it might at a future point. Treating people with kindness/respect however, does have value to me.
Psychology, is the answer for most of your questions. If there is an intrinsic value that all people have, that is provided by a God, or similar being, I don’t know. Further, I don’t think I’m capable of knowing and pondering on it is a waste of time, as no answer can be reached…
My current ponder, Trust. How much do we have to trust strangers, friends, etc.? Every time we cross a street walking we show trust in those people in the cars to stop. If we did not, it would cause us to need to make sure that no cars are coming and there would be no difference between a crosswalk and the middle of the street…
Probably true. While I am not an ethicist, human beings are different from inanimate objects… For one, they are animate. Two most of them are self motivated and aware. This creates both infinite more usefulness, and infinite more problems… However, everything is objects in space.
If everyone in the world agreed I am garbage and should be treated as such… That is meaningless so long as I don’t believe it? That’s it? No qualifications? None?