Why do humans have intrinsic value?

Question:do humans have intrinsic value or are we just instrumentally valubale to our species as a whole?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: do humans have intrinsic value or are we just instrumentally valubale to our species as a whole?

One of the most enduring human traits is self-interest.

To the extent that we have value only inasmuch as others can use us for their ends, our own aspirations, desires, and needs can be ignored or thwarted.

People would have no stake in a society that did not recognize individual prerogatives. Therefore, such a society could only be ruled by terrorizing its subjects and keeping them ignorant. The former increases the risk of uprising; the latter cripples economic and technological development.

The notion that people each have an intrinsic value provides a theoretical rationale for a society's recognition and accommodation of individual prerogatives. Such accomodation reduces society's need to use ignorance and terror to control its own people. This reduces the chances of an uprising, and creates more favorable conditions for the advancement of knowledge and consequent advances in economics and technology.

In a nutshell, assigning intrinsic value to each human being creates a more desirable society for all. And a society must be desireable to most of its citizens, at least in some ways, if it is to survive.

Rainchild

I can't understand why one's intrinsic value isn't the same as the instrumental value. How are they exclusive?

A person stripped of instrumental value is no longer a person.

Since value is something we assign it therefore isn't intrinsic.

Intrinsic value is placed upon an individuals Spiritual assimilation and connectivity, and his instrumental value is based upon his contributory input and usefulness to his fellow man, his accomplishment.

Man places upon his own head his value and worth.

there is a law of nature called evolution.. all things evolved for a purpose, when humans fail to see their purpose.. and they have through religious impositions on our minds, beliefs and understanding of the world, they loose their place in nature and their value to the earth we are meant to fulfill, then nature is in it's rights to exterminate... espeically since life under nature is simpler and less oppressive... I've always wondered why people would choose to blindly follow such idiocy.

The intrinsic aspect is the Soul-realization aspect. "The Path of the Higher Self," Mark Prophet.

Our intrinsic value is as agents of change. We cluelessly change our environment and provide challenges to the ecosystem to accelerate the processes of extinction and endangerment to other species.

We also alter physical environments in the same way.

All this we do for the sake of our "convenience". We might be misguided, but we sure are powerful.

Blow it all up!