Teaching Purposes

Nine Values of Science and Technology

1. Utilitarian Values

These values have high positive regard for technology and are easiest to grasp. Usually they dominate most discussion of the importance of technological advance. Everything we need for living -- food, clothing, shelter -- depend on our use of technology to extract them from the land.

2. Naturalistic Values

The value of nonhuman life surely transcends merely going foraging nature for the benefits of evolutionary history for our own consumption. If that were the only argument about preserving diversity it would at the same time make the argument that nature was created specifically for our use. There is pleasure and value for humans in nature. Preserving diversity preserves opportunities for pleasure.

3. Ecologistic-Scientific values

Humans enjoy the systematic study of nature.

4. Esthetic Values

5. Symbolic Values

We use technology everyday -- in common speech, in literature, in art, in fact, in many ways for communication and thought.

6. Humanistic Values

7. Moralistic Values

8. Dominionistic Values

Humans seem to have a need to dominate nature. Generally one tries to preserve one's dominion.

9. Negativistic Values

This is the flip side of the positive values 1-8 above. This alludes to fear and alienation people feel toward some parts of nature such a spiders and snakes. Those who hold negative values may not support preservations attempts if they conflict with these values.

Education plays a role -- a very strong role -- in the values a person holds. The more education one has received, the more one will tend to stress the importance of humanistic, moralistic and scientific values, downplaying dominionistic, utilitarian, and negativistic values. Those with less education tend to see things the other way around.