Sacred Values

Synonyms

Protected values

Definition

Those values that a moral community treats as possessing transcendental significance that precludes comparisons, trade-offs, or any mingling with secular values.

Introduction

The use of sacred values by humans to enforce cooperation has been seen throughout human history, as demonstrated by philosophers like Marx and Aristotle observing that humans are more likely to follow rules when framed from a sacred view of “don’t do x because God says so” versus a secular view of “don’t do x because I say so” (Tetlock 2003). As these types of rules are common across all cultures, anthropologists began noticing that, although the value being upheld was vastly different between cultures, the presence of sacredness was near ubiquitous. This led to research into the psychology of sacred values.

Sacred Values

Sacred values are those values which humans attribute a priceless value to. This means that, regardless of what the costs of upholding the value are, these...