value of life- a philosophical discussion?

Question

I've been thinking about the value of a human life through an agnostic perspective. Does the value of human life vary according to certain factors? Do some people's lives have no value?
For example, does the life of someone who is loved by friends/family, undertakes volunteer work and contributes to society have the same value as a person who has no friends/family, never contributes to anything, and utilises the world's finite resources, and polluting, without care?
Can you say that a person whose existence mattered little, has much value? What gives someone's life value (please respond with a rational non-religious argument)

Thanks for all the reponses. I'm going to play devil's advocate and probe a few statements a bit more. Someone said a valuable life is gaining satisfaction in life. What about those who actions cost many lives, yet feel very satisfied with their life? Or what about those who have the option to do good, willingly chose not to- can it be said that their life was valuable? Yes it is valuable to them, but objectively speaking, is it valuable? Would it be more 'valuable' if they didn't exist, esp considering the world's finite resources.

Answer 1

From an economics perspective, there is definitely value placed on lives every day. No life is priceless, that is, there is an upper limit. Even Bill Gates would not be able to pay or be worth a procedure that would cost 1 trillion dollars.
Is there a bottom limit? Can a life have a negative value?

We are social animals that have an ability to draw meaning from all sorts of situations. If a child is born, lives 2 minutes and dies and the mother dies during childbirth leaving 3 orphans it is tempting to call the existence of the newborn a negative, but is it?
Do the orphans become super-achievers or does one of them become a doctor because of the event saving countless other lives?

In isolation, value of a life is probably neutral, since cutting off contact with the outside world also cuts off any way to appraise value of that life, outside of its value to the owner.

And that may be part of an answer to your question. Outside of the value others or society puts on a life, what is one's life worth to oneself? If at anytime during your life you'd be willing to give 5 cents to live another minute, your life does have or has had value.

How to measure all the parts, self-worth, societal value, even potential worth is a question that goes beyond a simple spreadsheet and human calculation.

Even if such a calculation was possible, since we cannot see into the future, the value of a life is tremendously difficult. The value of the life of the 'ice-man' found in the alps accrued even millenia after his death. If the DNA of Hitler was discovered 200 years from now and some individual characteristic of his genes gave insight into the solution to a disease that was killing hundreds of millions, how does one sum up the value of his existence?

I'm sure there is a metaphysical calculator somewhere, but I ain't got it.

Peace

Answer 2

You can't just base the value of one's life solely on an agnostic perspective, there are other factors as well, such as society and its morals, cultures, etc. The way you are wording your questions is more or less asking is if someone's value is equal to them being worth something, such as a monetary value. I don't think it would be fair just to judge someone based on what they have done in their life, because, as we all know, life isn't fair, and not everyone has the same opportunities as others. You mentioned volunteer work, but that is assuming that the person has the financial means to do something like that, whereas some people have to work their butts off just to pay the bills. Does that automatically make someone's value lower because they don't have the luxury to do volunteer work? I would hope not. I think it would be safer to just assume that everyone is equal in their value of life because certain situations happen due to certain cirqumstances. I also think that there would be another level to this, and the value of someone's life differ from a family member to a stranger. Suppose some rich person despises the really hard working class, or just someone in particular, obviously then, the rich person would not place a high value on such a person. But what about that person's family, they would think entirely different, and how would that weigh in determining someone's value? I think the value of life should only be a subjective thing and not have some sort of criteria that determines someon'e value.

Answer 3

I believe the question can not really be answered because of the fact that we cannot see how much effect that these lives have that may appear to have mattered little. Plus, if the lives that actually did not really matter existed and had less value, then if they stopped existing it would be impossible to say that the other lives have value since it works on a scale, and removing one side of the scale simply moves the balance or removes the concept of the scale, in which case there is no comparison to be made. In the end, the two are dependent on each other if they are to exist, so assigning values to them, well, there seems to be no real value in such an action. :)

your brother,
nate

Answer 4

Your're talking about the value of a human in society not the value of life.
You admire one who "contributes to society" but in the same time there is another person in another part of the wold who admire one who "never contributes to anything" (i'm not talking about me :d )
So the answer is:
a)From a single person point of view the value of human life vary.

b)If you compute the mean value of all the opinions in the world i think the result would be that all values of life are equal.

PS:Theoretically we are all born equals therefore the values of our lives should also be equal.

Answer 5

I believe that depending on how much an individual puts value on their life, is how much "value" of that life will be portrayed in ones everyday living. It is not about who does what or more or less....i think that at the end of the day for every human being, the value of ones life is about the satisfaction they obatain through it. Therefore, everyone's life has a value but the question is, how much value is one placing on his/her life?

Answer 6

Try to know your own self. It is invaluable. Even it is more than gaining the whole world. The more you know yourself, you will know the value of others.