What's the "value" of a human life? Are some worth more than others?

[Deleted]

I always found this to be an interesting question and one no one can really answer without getting their emotions and bias (we are human ourselves after all) involved.

Some people will say that every life is valuable and that even questioning this is wrong. Others are capable of saying that Humanity is so widespread that a human life is so common that it's value is perhaps more valued on what the person is capable of in life, or his/her contribution to the world.

Let's try to look at it as objectively as we can and answer this question for ourselves: what do you think a human life is actually worth? And are some human lives worth more than others?

Edit: Please don't make this about race or culture. Just focus on the human perspective.

[Super Kami Dende]

Yes White People are worth 100x more than minorities, Coz white privilege

[Deleted]

For me only life that matters are the ones who want to leave in peace,rest can go and die.Those include rapists,killers,abusers,politicians...
We humans will kill and drive anything to extinction and not ask any questions really but when it comes to dealing with something that can actually do a lot of harm we say no to ending them and just let them live.

[Icoblablubb]

2006 it was avg 7.4 Million by some studys , personally i would say avg Age in months * taxes paid thats what you are worth for your government :P

[May90]

I think lives of people I care about (including myself) are worth infinitely more to me than other lives. But other lives are still infinitely precious.

[Katie N]

You don't put value on human life.

[Azadina]

2006 it was avg 7.4 Million by some studys , personally i would say avg Age in months * taxes paid thats what you are worth for your government :P

Does the governments pay 7 million per soldier to safeguard their lives? Would they pay 7 million ransom for you?

[Dezerte]

I think value is inherently a subjective thing, so there is no objective answer.

[Puri]

Of course, why would this even be debatable? Worth or value is completely subjective and depends on emotions. For some people it might be absolutly worth to spend much on a painting, for others this seems completely ridiculous.
And the same applies to humans. The closer someone is to you, the more he/she is worth to you. Given some hypothetical situation, everyone would focus on saving his beloved friend/relative even if it means other people (more than one) might die. This happens instinctively and you do not think about it in a situation like that.

For people unknown to you, the "care factor" is mainly determined by proximity and cultural similarities. This is why (western) people freak out when 5 people get shot in Paris (where you could have literally done nothing to prevent this), but it is only a "meh" if some bombing in Mali or Afghanistan kills hundreds (where you also could not have done anything against), but they also don't care if people starve somewhere in Africa (where you indeed could have done something with minimal personal effort or loss). Or local news gets flooded for days because a 7 year old drowned in a public pool, while no one cares that dozens of people drown while crossing the mediterranean sea every single day.

So yes, we put value tags on people, and sayings like "all (human) life is equal" are nice but meaningless platitudes.

[ezgeze]

Let's try to look at it as objectively as we can and answer this question for ourselves: what do you think a human life is actually worth? And are some human lives worth more than others?

Short answer is that yes, some people are worth more than others.

This is pretty much the basis for the whole pro-abortion stance as some people justify their actions using age to determine worth.

With that being said I would think almost everyone to some degree will rank people according to worth. As for myself I think worth really has for the sake of simplicity here, 4 categories, worth in productivity, wealth, age/potential and gender bias.

For example lets take 2 individuals, one is 55 years old man and the other is 12 year old girl

The 55 year old man
(+)possessions/wealth
(-)age/potential
(+)productivity
(-)male

12 year old girl
(-)possessions/wealth
(+)age/potential
(-)productivity
(+)female

Result: Tied

In this scenario you might think they are relatively even but in reality I view some categories are more important than others so in the end it would look for me something like this

The 55 year old man
(++)possessions/wealth
(---)age/potential
(+++)productivity
(-)male

12 year old girl
(-)possessions/wealth
(++++)age/potential
(---)productivity
(++)female

Result: 12 year old girl is worth more

Don't get me wrong, I don't naturally go around ranking people like this it just happens naturally and since I heavily favor age, generally speaking I tend to favor the young over the old

[Revi]

You can calculate financial worth in various ways, and that way the value of a life vary hugely on who they are. From billions to almost nothing.

Morally it is entirely subjective. People could be worth less than nothing (be positive to kill) all the way up to invaluable depending on who they are and what your values are.
And if you presuppose that everyone is worth the same, that value could also go from in the negatives (positive to kill) up to invaluable.

In practice, despite what people philosophize and calculate, the vast majority of peoples view of others' worth is tied to how they feel about them.

[Icoblablubb]

Does the governments pay 7 million per soldier to safeguard their lives? Would they pay 7 million ransom for you?

and here is another one who thinks everyone is Murican with a fucked up government..

[Revi]

Does the governments pay 7 million per soldier to safeguard their lives? Would they pay 7 million ransom for you?

Depending on circumstances, yes.

[Deleted]

People that make other peoples life hell lose their "value" for me. Doesn´t matter if its physical violence, rape, murder, stalking or what ever.

[Azadina]

and here is another one who thinks everyone is Murican with a fucked up government..

You failed to answer the fair question. Would your country pay 7 millions for your life, or leave you be?

[Deleted]

Ethics 101: The inherent value of a human life is just that, the base value that comes with being human.

This value is the same regardless of gender, race, place of birth etc... It's what we base our human rights on, the fact that you are human.

However, what then determines values is how said individual acts and this is a purely social construct more so than the previous statement.

By what morals do we punish crimes, what actions do we cherish and what actions do we condemn?


In general I've always viewed human value as a result of ones actions, but their base value as a human is a constant and thus I will never support any treatment of another human being that denies them their basic rights.

Even if you killed 100 people in cold blood, you still deserve your trial if caught.

[Icoblablubb]

You failed to answer the fair question. Would your country pay 7 millions for your life, or leave you be?

seems like u failed to read the answer out of what i write as ist obvious .. ofc my Country would do it .. it actually does kind of these things since 30 years

[Thrif]

Human lives have absolutely no inherent value whatsoever, but due to us being a highly social race, we are bound to subjectively value other people's lives.

That's about all there is to it.

[ezgeze]

Most people believe the 12 year old girl is worth more in almost every situation. Not only are they are female, which makes them highly valuable, but they are also a child, which makes them inherently valuable, for basically the same reasons a female is valuable.

In a situation where you had to choose which one lives, i mean.

Which would be correct in the simplified version but not in a complete value assessment. Lets say you factored in geographic location, health/family history, relation to that person, race, sexual orientation, political compass, criminal history, career choice, etc. It becomes much more complicated to the point where I think for most, gender would take a back seat.

[Azadina]

Do you mean pay a 7 million dollar ransom? Or use financial resources to secure my life? There is a big difference in what the answer would be.

Does it matter really when considering your worth? If you are worth 7 million, then in every scenario we'd think of, that should show, shouldn't it?

Will they spend that money on medical treatments for you? Ransom? Or something silly, such as, would they pay you 7 millions to stop you from killing yourself, if you tell them you'd otherwise do it?