Consistency
Further information: ConsistencyAs a member of a society, group or community, an individual can hold both a personal value system and a communal value system at the same time. In this case, the two value systems (one personal and one communal) are externally consistent provided they bear no contradictions or situational exceptions between them.
A value system in its own right is internally consistent when
- its values do not contradict each other and
- its exceptions are
- abstract enough to be used in all situations and
- consistently applied.
Conversely, a value system by itself is internally inconsistent if:
- its values contradict each other and
- its exceptions are
- highly situational and
- inconsistently applied.
One of the conditions required for consistency in any (?) logical (i.e. value-conserving) system of statements is their transitivity. (See: Intransitivity. Occurrences.) Without it, it might eventually happen that A is of greater value than B, yet B is of greater value than A—which is a case of mutual contradiction in certain statements that determine values of A and B in the system. Value system consistency can be a value in and of itself.
Read more about this topic: Value System
Famous quotes containing the word consistency:
“The lawyers truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“All religions have honored the beggar. For he proves that in a matter at the same time as prosaic and holy, banal and regenerative as the giving of alms, intellect and morality, consistency and principles are miserably inadequate.”
—Walter Benjamin (18921940)