12 reasons: Why should a society clarify its values?

Values are ends of human action that are good and valuable in themselves. Values tell us what the common good is – the good that people are wise to pursue for their own sake.

The larger the group of people whose shared values are in question, the more significant and weighty those values are. In an ideal world, all of humanity would share one set of values; in reality, the weightiest values are those of a democratic society.

Values and democracy are two sides of the same coin. If one is lost, the other is lost with it. That is why, in a democracy, defending and strengthening the values of society is in everyone's shared interest. The values of a society unambiguously exist. They can be found in legislation, and they become visible in the structures of society.

No democracy has ever carried out an exhaustive study of its values. Finland would do well to do so.

1. we would know the purpose of society's existence and its most important, if not its only, real task
2. we could teach children what the common good is – the good we are all jointly responsible for realising
3. we could explain to immigrants which values of Finnish society we expect them, too, to make their own
4. we could monitor the state of society's values and make sure they are realised as fully as possible
5. in good times, we would know which values are worth directing spare resources to
6. in bad times, we would know where we can cut back without any of our values being in danger of collapsing
7. we could make sure that means – above all money and power – do not rise to the status of values
8. we could defend ourselves when our values, and the democracy that rests on them, come under attack
9. we could protect ourselves against hybrid influence and other forces that tear society apart
10. we would know why the country is worth defending if war breaks out, and we could make sure that the will to defend it does not fail when it really matters
11. as a society, we could better prepare for whatever challenges the future brings
12. we would do a great service to all other democratic societies.