Reecie chewy chapter 5. Cosmopolitanism

Study Question:
Ch. 5: The Primacy of Practice
The question states why it isn’t likely that we can come to a reasoned argument about values. I believe this is true for people of different cultures. They were taught to value something for the reasons of their culture, and in our own culture we might be taught the same value but for a very different reason. We might both see being kind as a value, but what I see as someone acting kindly, a person from another culture might not see as being kind. Thus we are not going to agree about our values because we were both taught to value it for a different reason, and are not going to change our reasoning of the value without long and hard thought. It is asked why we bother to have conversations if we cannot agree. Well I see it like this… We don’t have to agree. We can each have our own opinion, and even talk about them, but we do not have to come to a conclusion of agreement. What we should really take out of a conversation is an understanding for the other person’s value. We could find it interesting why they value something, and why it is different from our own definition of the value.

As a UK freshman, I believe that all freshmen might have similar values, or “shared horizons of meaning”, but we might define them differently. We all value the thought of receiving an education (or at least most freshmen). Education might have different meanings to each one of us. To me I am getting an education so I can gain knowledge while I am in college and apply it to the real world when I graduate. Someone else’s thought of an education could be completely different. Another value is doing well while in college. My definition of that value is trying the best that I can while I am in college, and hope for good grades. But I see trying your best more important because that really is all you can do, and if you put the effort forward, then the results should be good. Another person could possibly see the value of doing well in college just as getting good grades. Students might have the same values, but define them differently.

There are certain things that could impact these values, such as having a certain background or upbringing. You might have been taught that doing well in school is solely defined by how good your grades are. So if you got a B but tried your best, then it was still looked upon as not doing well in school. The value of education could be impacted by a couple things, such as race or gender. People have values in education but for instance do not believe that (for example) a Hispanic should or could receive an education (of course this is not my view, being half Puerto Rican). So their value of education is stereotyped and based on white Americans receiving an education, and that that’s “the way it should be”, which brings us back to the earlier chapters in Cosmopolitanism. Also, some men still believe (not so much anymore) that only men should be educated and not women. That there shouldn’t be powerful educated women. This cannot be helped anymore because women have proved themselves worthy of many leading jobs. But the values these men hold are that men should be educated, knowledgeable, and that is “the way it ought to be”.

So many people share the same values, could be anything, but most all see their value in a different light than another. We each have different reasons why we value something, it most of the time we will stand our ground about why, unless otherwise persuaded. To quote Shakespeare:
“When thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes
With words that made them known”.

Thanks for reading once again
This is Reecie, hope u enjoyed ^_^