I) Values Clarification reflects the outcome of a post-Judeo Christian era where truth is seen as relative rather than absolute. It assumes there are no external standards of right and wrong and that individuals can choose their own values. II) Virtue Clarification aims to identify and reinforce timeless virtues like honesty, kindness, courage. Virtues are seen as universal standards that do not change over time or circumstances. III) Critics argue that Values Clarification can lead to a "anything goes" morality where all ideas are seen as equally valid and the words "right" and "wrong" lose meaning. They say it avoids conflicts by not making judgments.

1. VALUE VERSUS
VIRTUE
CLARIFICATION
AHALLER

2. Values
Clarification
 “Everything we do,
every decision we
make and course
of action we take,
is based on our
consciously or
unconsciously held
beliefs, attitudes
and values.”
 Simon et al.,
1978, p. 13
Sidney Simon
= expert in
VC

3. Values Clarification
 Values = what we believe to be important
 Clarification = to identify and make clear
what is important
 Values are:
 individual
 subject to change
 are demonstrated by the way we live (time,
money, and energy)

4. Virtue Clarification
 Virtue = has an external reference point. It
may or may not line up with what I value as to
be important
 Clarification = to identify and make clear what
is a virtue
 Virtues are:
 Corporate and apply universally
 Not subject to change by time or
circumstances
 are demonstrated by the way we live (time,
money, and energy)

5. Both Are Identical in the Above Way
Values
 A Value may be defined as:
 A strongly held belief chosen
from among alternatives
 After careful consideration of
the consequences of each
alternative
 That is both prized and
esteemed
 Publicly stated
 Publicly acted upon
 And repeated in one’s daily
living
Virtues
 A Virtue may be defined as:
 A strongly held belief chosen
from among alternatives
 After careful consideration of
the consequences of each
alternative
 That is both prized and
esteemed
 Publicly stated
 Publicly acted upon
 And repeated in one’s daily
living

6. Values Clarification
 What is Values Clarification?
 Intervention consisting of
 Form of questioning
 A set of activities or strategies and
 An approach toward subject content
 Purpose
 Assist individual become clearer what to
do with their
 Time
 Money
 Energy
 Being

7. Virtue Clarification
 What is Virtue Clarification?
 Intervention consisting of
Form of questioning
A set of activities or strategies and
An approach toward subject content
 Definition of Purpose in Life
 Assist individual become clearer about reinforcing
time honored virtues – honesty, integrity, kindness,
courage, perseverance, love, compassion etc.

8. Criticisms Of Values Clarification
 Everyone has values. Adolf Hitler had values.
Mother Theresa had values.
 Virtue implies right and wrong which leads to the
discomfort of guilt or judgementalism by others if
the virtue is not accepted.
 Value clarification leads to a guilt free choosing.
All ideas have equal validity. It avoids conflicts.
 Nothing is right or wrong but just “is”
 Value clarification is a premise of a philosophy
known as “Post Modernism”.

9. I) Values Clarification reflects the Outcome of a Post Judea Christian
era (French Revolution until now) of Ideas:
Nietzsche’s perspectivism or relativism. It depends on where one comes from our
demographic, age, ethnicity, gender - truth is ultimately really fiction. Subjectivity rules. All
things are relative. A Judea Christian perspective simply is one of many ideas at the table of
choices. An external reference point does not exist whether it is reason or God.
Criticisms Of Values Clarification
Example of extreme Nietzsche’s Paradigm
"A new and magical understanding of the world
is on the rise, one based on will rather than truth.
There is no truth, in either the scientific or the
moral sense."
- Adolf Hitler

10. Postmodern Morality
How dare say anything I do or say could be wrong? You make me so angry! The
better way: Make up your own morals as you go. Banish the words right or wrong,
good or bad, or truth or a lie. Never admit or confess to a thing. Shame, blame,
judgementalism, and guilt will cease. Be French about it already, say
“unacceptable or I don’t agree...”

11. The Present – An Ethics Crisis
• Resurgence – fashionable but transient
• Preventive in Approach – “avoid being caught”
• Tends to be more in a social context than with an individual’s quest for
personal virtuosity
• It is taught presuming man is inherently good not prone to wrong.
Individual hypocrisy, selfishness, cruelty and envy are merely glanced at
or ignored.
• Paradox: Education has sought a value neutral world eradicating terms of
right and wrong as judgmental lest someone be offended.

12. Addressing an Ethics
(Virtue) Crisis
 We Seek to Address Symptoms not Causes
 The founders had a consensus of convictions evil was real. Checks
and balances were necessary in life.
 Senator Moynihan “Americans have “defined deviancy down”
 Dostoyevsky “If God is dead, and there is no future life nothing would
be immoral any longer, everything would be permitted”
 Traditional definitions of “virtues and vices” that address the unique
value of every individual yet the conscious effort to resist the heavy
gravity of the presence and power of evil have faded away from
the conscious of the culture.

13. Start Somewhere
 Virtues
 An awkward word filled with
connotations of stiff self
righteousness or
judgmentalism
 Suffers the danger of legalism
and moralism
 Start somewhere with
definitions to roll back the
confusion and fog! – tradition
can help
 Vices
 An awkward word out of
date only mentioned of
the Police Vice Squad –
gambling, prostitution
etc.
 A word really meant to
address the loss of self
control
 Example of all types of
“anonymous” recovery
groups

14. Ethics (Virtues): Historical Legacy
 Greek & Roman Philosophers
 “virtue was that excellence
which causes something to
perform its purpose well” –
“virtue of a horse or a sharp
blade”
 Example: “vice” was a matter
of excess or deficit – to face
death too much fear a coward
(deficit) too little fear (excess)
reckless – right amount -
courage
 Old and New Testament – out
of which came 7 deadly sins –
after centuries of reflection
 Pride
 Envy
 Anger
 Sloth
 Avarice
 Gluttony
 Lust

15. Definitions
 Pride: Self-absorption
 Envy: Wanting what others have with resentment
 Anger: Willing of harm and destruction of others verbally
or physically
 Sloth: lethargy towards God, the good, the ideal
 Avarice: Grasping on to earthly possessions
 Gluttony: to consume too much of anything
 Lust: the desire for every attractive body

16. Five Reminders
I. Remember the place of discipline – training ourselves to do what we
cannot ordinarily do
II. Remember deception – our utility sin that assists all other sinning
III. Remember the danger of moralism – our ugly counterfeit of virtue
IV. Remember that differences make a difference – our unwelcomed
insistence in a day of pluralism
V. Remember demonstration – virtue embodied in action

17. AHaller
Value versus
Virtue
Clarification
For further reading see Os Guiness’s
book “Steering Through Chaos”