Abstract

Two sorts of values are to be distinguished: economic values which are related to the subjective needs and desires of sensitive beings, and non-economic or spiritual values which are related to persons living in a common culture. The present 'crisis of values' has to do with a confusion between these two different kinds of values. Spiritual values and norms should also be distinguished from ideals and related principles. Ideals and principles are abstractions originating in the attempt to organize human life in a strictly rational way, independently of the insertion of human beings in a common culture. Spiritual values are characterized by a certain sort of transcendence vis à vis the desires and opinions of persons. They are neither subjective, nor strictly objective; neither universal, non purely particular. Values are necessarily incarnated in concrete objects, persons, structures etc. Therefore, even transcendental values are necessarily expressed in concrete forms or symbols. As a consequence, all values are vulnerable and in principle susceptible to change and loss. The norms related to spiritual values should not be considered as fossilized forms or remnants of values. They rather refer to boundaries and distinctions without the honouring of which values cannot exist. Therefore, these norms are no obstacle to freedom, but its possibility-condition