Protected Values
Encyclopedia
Protected values are value
s that people are unwilling to trade off no matter what the benefits of doing so may be. For example, some people may be unwilling to kill any one person, even if it means saving many others. Protected values tend to be overgeneralizations, and most people can in fact imagine a scenario when trading off their most precious values is necessary.
From the perspective of utilitarianism
, protected values are bias
es when they prevent utility from being maximized across individuals.
and Mark Spranca, protected values arise from norm
s as described in theories of deontological ethics
(the latter often being referred to in context with Immanuel Kant
). The protectedness implies that people are concerned with their participation in transactions rather than just the consequences of it.
Absoluteness has been described as the defining property of protected values. The term absolute
applies to the fact that such values are considered non-tradable and that people want them to trump any decision involving a conflict between a protected and a compensatory value. (Compensatory values can be defined as part of a pair of values were a change in one value can be compensated by a change in the other value. These values are prevalent in the theories of consequentialism
and utilitarianism
.)
Baron and Spranca propose five other concepts as being properties of protected values, due the fact that these values arise from deontological prohibitions:
Quantity insensitivity : The quantity of consequences is irrelevant for protected values. For instance, the act of destroying one species is as bad as destroying a hundred. Decision theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky
calls this scope insensitivity, and views it as a widespread cognitive bias
.
Agent relativity: The participation of the decision maker is important, not just the consequences in themselves.
Moral obligation: The actions required or prohibited by protected values are seen as universal and independent of what people think.
Denial of trade-offs : People may resist the idea that anything must be sacrificed at all for the sake of their values, denying by wishful thinking
the existence of trade-offs and insisting that their values do no harm.
Anger : Finally, the emotional aspect of anger is relevant. Because people see the violation of a protected value as a moral violation, they tend to get angry when thinking about an action that harms such values.
Value (ethics)
In ethics, value is a property of objects, including physical objects as well as abstract objects , representing their degree of importance....
s that people are unwilling to trade off no matter what the benefits of doing so may be. For example, some people may be unwilling to kill any one person, even if it means saving many others. Protected values tend to be overgeneralizations, and most people can in fact imagine a scenario when trading off their most precious values is necessary.
From the perspective of utilitarianism
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...
, protected values are bias
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
es when they prevent utility from being maximized across individuals.
Protected values as deontological rules
According to Jonathan BaronJonathan Baron
Jonathan Baron is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in the science of decision-making.-Life and career:Baron was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1944, and received a B.A. from Harvard in 1966 and a Ph.D. from Michigan in 1970, both in psychology...
and Mark Spranca, protected values arise from norm
Norm (philosophy)
Norms are concepts of practical import, oriented to effecting an action, rather than conceptual abstractions that describe, explain, and express. Normative sentences imply “ought-to” types of statements and assertions, in distinction to sentences that provide “is” types of statements and assertions...
s as described in theories of deontological ethics
Deontological ethics
Deontological ethics or deontology is the normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to a rule or rules. It is sometimes described as "duty" or "obligation" or "rule" -based ethics, because rules "bind you to your duty"...
(the latter often being referred to in context with Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
). The protectedness implies that people are concerned with their participation in transactions rather than just the consequences of it.
Absoluteness has been described as the defining property of protected values. The term absolute
Absolute (philosophy)
The Absolute is the concept of an unconditional reality which transcends limited, conditional, everyday existence. It is sometimes used as an alternate term for "God" or "the Divine", especially, but by no means exclusively, by those who feel that the term "God" lends itself too easily to...
applies to the fact that such values are considered non-tradable and that people want them to trump any decision involving a conflict between a protected and a compensatory value. (Compensatory values can be defined as part of a pair of values were a change in one value can be compensated by a change in the other value. These values are prevalent in the theories of consequentialism
Consequentialism
Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness of that conduct...
and utilitarianism
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...
.)
Baron and Spranca propose five other concepts as being properties of protected values, due the fact that these values arise from deontological prohibitions:
Quantity insensitivity : The quantity of consequences is irrelevant for protected values. For instance, the act of destroying one species is as bad as destroying a hundred. Decision theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky
Eliezer Yudkowsky
Eliezer Shlomo Yudkowsky is an American artificial intelligence researcher concerned with the singularity and an advocate of friendly artificial intelligence, living in Redwood City, California.- Biography :...
calls this scope insensitivity, and views it as a widespread cognitive bias
Cognitive bias
A cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations. Implicit in the concept of a "pattern of deviation" is a standard of comparison; this may be the judgment of people outside those particular situations, or may be a set of independently verifiable...
.
Agent relativity: The participation of the decision maker is important, not just the consequences in themselves.
Moral obligation: The actions required or prohibited by protected values are seen as universal and independent of what people think.
Denial of trade-offs : People may resist the idea that anything must be sacrificed at all for the sake of their values, denying by wishful thinking
Wishful thinking
Wishful thinking is the formation of beliefs and making decisions according to what might be pleasing to imagine instead of by appealing to evidence, rationality or reality...
the existence of trade-offs and insisting that their values do no harm.
Anger : Finally, the emotional aspect of anger is relevant. Because people see the violation of a protected value as a moral violation, they tend to get angry when thinking about an action that harms such values.