Q&A: Values
Values
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Isaiah Leibowitz said: “A value cannot be justified. It is something non-rational; it does not express reality and is not entailed by reality.”
- Are his words basically the same as yours, which you have said several times (one of them recently in one of the questions on the site): “There is no way to justify and ground values. If I ground the value of truth in x, you will ask why x is a value. A value is an end, not a means to something else.”?
- What, then, gives a value importance? Just as I accept a certain value, can I also choose not to accept it?
Answer
1. No, they are not. In my view, values are not arbitrary; they simply cannot be justified. And that is definitely not the same thing. It is like any axiom that cannot be justified, yet it is clear that it is true. Moreover, in the article I explained that in my opinion Leibowitz did not understand himself, and others did not understand him either. He also did not really mean arbitrariness. See here:
https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=f18e4f052adde49eb&q=https://mikyab.net/%25D7%259B%25D7%25AA%25D7%2591%25D7%2599%25D7%259D/%25D7%259E%25D7%2590%25D7%259E%25D7%25A8%25D7%2599%25D7%259D/%25D7%25A9%25D7%25A8%25D7%2599%25D7%25A8%25D7%2595%25D7%25AA%25D7%2599%25D7%2595%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2594%25D7%25A8%25D7%2595%25D7%259F-%25D7%2591%25D7%259E%25D7%25A9%25D7%25A0%25D7%25AA%25D7%2595-%25D7%25A9%25D7%259C-%25D7%259C%25D7%2599%25D7%2591%25D7%2595%25D7%2591%25D7%2599%25D7%25A5-%25D7%25A4%25D7%2595%25D7%2596/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjM4oyOtqaEAxUxT0EAHXXCAnUQFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw12aFsXSn-FG3boV4Kbt5a3
If everything that cannot be justified is non-rational, then there is no such thing as rationality. After all, every justification is based on assumptions that themselves cannot be justified. These are nonsense words.