Are we born with values and ideals or do we acquire them here?

Question

Do we come to this world with a clean slate? ---- If yes, then for example, why do children of the same parents differ so much?

Answer 1

It depends on whether you believe in reincarnation or not.



If yes, then we come into this world (this time around) with lessons and beliefs and values from previous lives. Those mix and mingle with what we pick up this time, and the result is us.



If no, then the only explanation I can think of is chaos theory. Take a dozen blank canvases. Throw paint at each of them. Every one is going to come out with a different pattern. There will be some similarities, just as there are in people exposed to the same event. But because every person has different genetics, and because every person perceives reality slightly differently, the outcomes will always be different.

Answer 2

Yes we acquire them.As humans we learned first those values from our parents and sometimes the surrounding where we live or grow might even change the values we learned first.



Each individual has a core of underlying values that contribute to their system of beliefs, ideas and/or opinions (see value in semiotics). Integrity in the application of a "value" ensures its continuity and this continuity separates a value from beliefs, opinion and ideas. In this context a value (e.g. Truth or Equality or Greed) is part of the core value system from which one operates or reacts. These values can be grouped into six categories:



* Ethics (good - bad, virtue - vice, moral - immoral - amoral, right - wrong, permissible - impermissible)

* Aesthetics (beautiful, ugly, unbalanced, pleasing)

* Doctrinal (political, ideological, religious or social beliefs and values)

* Innate/Inborn (inborn values such as reproduction and survival, a controversial category)

* Non-use/passive - includes the value based on something never used or seen, or something left for the next generation.

* Potential/option - the value of something that's known to be only potentially valuable, such as a plant that might be found to have medicinal value in the future.



A value system is the ordered and prioritized set of values (usually of the ethical and doctrinal categories described above) that an individual's culture upholds.



Jozel Q. Paclibar

Internet Research Specialist

AskMeNow Inc.

Manila,Philippines

Answer 3

We definitely don't come to this world with a perfectly clean slate. It is a seemingly clean slate but is embossed with a handful of adjectives that God wants us to be when we grow up. On the slate you can also find a generous sprinkle of assorted qualities which aid in making the embossed adjectives to eventually surface.



During the course of life, an observant and sensitive parent identifies the hidden qualities of the child and helps him to make the best out of his life. The child is ignorant (so is the parent) and thinks he's learning from his parents, friends, teachers, etc. He feels he's 'acquiring' the values and ideals, but in truth, it's his own slate which is shaping up, and he has no eyes to see it. All the world does for us is to help us in more than one ways to be what we are...But nobody can really 'change/teach' us unless we're inclined to do so...



I strongly believe that we are born with our values and ideals, and we use our surroundings to become the 'adjectives' that God wanted us to become when we were bz dreaming about him when in our mummie's tummie's!! LOL...Which explains why children of the same parents differ so much, 'coz they come with special customised handcrafted slates gifted by God!



However, on the other hand, when we put on our worldly glasses tinted with logic, it seems too silly to believe that we were born with our values. As my friends in Y! Answers Community have rightly written, that we dont' really learn french BEFORE coming to this world (common sense), and that we learn soo many things while we're living. Yes, it may be true to a certain extent that we acquire our values and ideals during the different stages of life as time goes by...



But I would still like to support my 'emotional' theory, as I like to believe that God directs us in every stage and everything is predetermined. Yes, we do become what we are as we grow, but unless he'd sprinkled those qualities with his generous hands, we'd have been mere robots doing exactly what our parents, teachers, friends, children, neighbours say! Each one of us has a different and unique mind, beautifully blooming (sincerely surprising) in every stage of life...=)

Answer 4

No, we are not born with any values or ideals. We build them through life's lessons, experiences, and the experiences of others.



Simblings personalities are quite different from each other so if two of them incured the same experience, they would take completely different lessons or memories from it. Everyone has a different point of view, it is part of what makes us unique.

Answer 5

I think we are born with some genetic predispositions to certain personality traits.... however, these predispositions are altered and affected by the environment we grow up in.



Genetics definitely plays some role, for example it is proven that psychopaths other personality disorders have genetic basis.



However, environment plays a huge role.

Answer 6

What an interesting question.



Here's my take:



While we're genetically predisposed physically and mentally, values and ideals (what I think of as "higher thinking") is learned.



Values and ideals, to me, are about free will and the ability to choose how you will see the world and your part in it.



Genetics are locked in.

Values and ideals are fluid... and can change as often as you choose.

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Answer 7

I think we acquire them. We usually are most influenced by the parent we are closest to and then once we get out in the world on our own, we put our own "spin" to what we have been taught.

Answer 8

I believe they are acquired oh tierra'd tomato one. (Sorry, could not resist)



If we didn't we would all have the same values and ideals regardless of what country we lived in wouldn't we?



Clearly that is not the case.



Acquired.

Answer 9

I believe that Karma follows us from one life into the next. But we must relearn all of its values. That is why we have multiple lives,. They are opportunities to better your soul. To get it right, if you will.

Answer 10

are you born knowing how to speak french, you are what your parents where going through at the time of your up bringing.