Virtues/Being-values

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Maslow’s Being-values[edit | edit source]

In studying accounts of peak experiences, Abraham Maslow identified a manner of thought he called "Being-cognition" (or "B-cognition", which is holistic and accepting, as opposed to the evaluative "Deficiency-cognition" or "D-cognition") and values (not specifically virtues) he called "Being-values".[1] He listed the B-values as:

  • Wholeness (unity; integration; tendency to one-ness; interconnectedness; simplicity; organization; structure; dichotomy-transcendence; order);
  • Perfection (necessity; just-right-ness; just-so-ness; inevitability; suitability; justice; completeness; "oughtness");
  • Completion (ending; finality; justice; "it's finished"; fulfillment; finis and telos; destiny; fate);
  • Justice (fairness; orderliness; lawfulness; "oughtness");
  • Aliveness (process; non-deadness; spontaneity; self-regulation; full-functioning);
  • Richness (differentiation, complexity; intricacy);
  • Simplicity (honesty; nakedness; essentiality; abstract, essential, skeletal structure);
  • Beauty (rightness; form; aliveness; simplicity; richness; wholeness; perfection; completion; uniqueness; honesty);
  • Goodness (rightness; desirability; oughtness; justice; benevolence; honesty);
  • Uniqueness (idiosyncrasy; individuality; non-comparability; novelty);
  • Effortlessness (ease; lack of strain, striving or difficulty; grace; perfect, beautiful functioning);
  • Playfulness (fun; joy; amusement; gaiety; humor; exuberance; effortlessness);
  • Truth (honesty; reality; nakedness; simplicity; richness; oughtness; beauty; pure, clean and unadulterated; completeness; essentiality).
  • Self-sufficiency (autonomy; independence; not-needing-other-than-itself-in-order-to-be-itself; self-determining; environment-transcendence; separateness; living by its own laws).

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Maslow, Abraham (1998). Towards a Psychology of Being. Wiley; 3 edition. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-471-29309-5.