A value judgment (opinion) is a person’s subjective assessment of any phenomenon in the surrounding reality. It is usually expressed using evaluative words (“acceptable/unacceptable”, “good/bad”) or explains a person’s individual position.
Based on their focus, judgments are of three types:
- Factual (objective). That is, those that record events that actually happened. In other words, this is a real accomplished fact, recorded by people or special devices and stored in any form. Factual opinions may be the result of one's own or others' experiences. Often, factual events include events that did not happen in reality, but are the plots of books (films, commercials). For example, the fact that Alice fell down the rabbit hole is a fact, even though it happened in a fantasy world.
- Evaluative (subjective). Always subjective, even if they are public. Such judgments reflect an individual perception of a fact.
- Theoretical. This is a presentation of information based on the experience of many generations. A person does not have to be a scientist in order for his theoretical judgments to be based on scientific experience.
Theoretical judgments are easy to confuse with facts. It should be remembered that a fact is a concrete phenomenon, and a theory is just a scheme of actions.
A person always gives an independent assessment of the world around him, even if this opinion is dictated to him from the outside. Despite this, there are several types of evaluative opinions:
- correct;
- incorrect;
- adequate;
- inadequate;
- optimal;
- suboptimal.
The correctness of an opinion can be judged by comparing it with the pattern of events. About adequacy - comparing with reality (facts).
Optimality means how beneficial the evaluative opinion is to the subject of the statement.
Sometimes a person utters an outright lie, although he himself understands it very well. Such self-deception can be very optimal if its result is the achievement of the intended goal!
An example of such inadequate and suboptimal judgment is when a person, in the most bleak events (being fired from a job, having a wallet stolen), finds positive aspects that help him achieve something new and better.
Inadequate and incorrect value judgments are determined by comparing them with reality.
By assessing what is happening around, a person can control himself and shape his reality. When communicating with other people, we sometimes notice the incorrectness of their statements. The same thing happens to those who listen to us. It turns out that all people lie and tell the truth at the same time.
As a result, we can say that the main function of a value judgment is not to clarify the truth, but to justify one’s own thoughts, words, and actions.
Any assessment ultimately affects a person’s actions, behavior, his attitude towards himself and others.
In mentally healthy people, self-esteem is usually slightly inflated, which allows them to remain at least at an average level. This phenomenon is also characteristic of humanity as a whole. However, if such unfounded optimism reaches a global scale, this is a step into the abyss for society.
Each person is a particle of his environment, which does not want to stand out too much from the general mass. It follows from this that the subjective evaluative opinion of each of us is the result of the influence of public judgments. And the main function of assessment is self-government, as well as identifying oneself with society.
The phrase “actual character” has many explanations. Each interpretation can mean completely different definitions. Some experts believe that value judgment and factual character are related concepts.
What it is?
The term usually refers to events that have already occurred. That is, a factual character is a proposition that states that a certain event has already happened and does not require any explanation. It is because of this that it will be impossible to refute any fact. Factual means certain events that have occurred or will occur. Often judgments contain certain numbers.
Signs of factual nature
All statements are different, but something common can be identified from them. Factual character is primarily a judgment that does not carry any emotional overtones. Statements can only state an event and what will happen or happened after it. Signs:
- What is being described is spoken of in the past tense. An event that happened a long time ago. For example, World War II passed.
- The presence in the judgment of some exact numbers, percentages and exact dates. For example, according to sociological studies, 60% of people do not use men's shampoo.
- Quote from a person. For example, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin said: “The less I think, the easier my life.”
What is a value judgment?
Unlike factual judgment, evaluative judgment is characterized by subjectivity. This means that opinions can be radically different and there can be a large number of them. These are various positive and negative assessments of an event, as well as a forecast or assumption regarding what will happen or has happened. Thanks to this, they understand that factual character is accurate information, and value judgment is subjective data.
Signs of a value judgment
Sometimes it is difficult to do without such expressions. After all, they allow us to explain how events can influence other objects. And also how any event that may occur may affect it. Signs:
- First of all, these are sentences that do not name something exactly, but are only speculative. Sometimes it is assumed that some event may occur.
- A large number of introductory words in a statement or sentence: presumably, obviously, it seems, on the contrary, and so on.
- There is a depersonalization of opinion. It becomes difficult to determine who exactly is speaking. The most commonly used constructions are: I believe, I think, I assume and others.
The word “fact” comes from the Latin faktum - “done, accomplished.”
A fact is knowledge in the form of a statement, the reliability of which is strictly established. Facts form the empirical basis of knowledge. A factual judgment records a real fact, a phenomenon of already existing reality that took place in real time. Judgments of a factual nature cannot be challenged.
Science distinguishes three types of social facts:
- Actions, actions of people, individuals or large social groups.
- Products of human activity (material and spiritual).
- Verbal (verbal) actions: opinions, judgments, assessments. Examples of such social facts can be: Suvorov’s crossing of the Alps, the Cheops pyramid, the words spoken by Archimedes: “Give me a fulcrum, and I will move the globe.”
So, those events that actually happened are of a factual nature and are only material for further analysis and further value judgments. For example, the text states “as consumer income grows, they repair clothes and shoes less often, preferring to buy new ones, and refuse cheap and not very high-quality food products.” The position does not provide assessments. The same is true in the sentence - “this pattern was studied by the German economist Ernst Engel” - a fact is stated.
The scientific explanation of a fact is also associated with its assessment. A person who understands social phenomena cannot be indifferent to the facts being studied; he forms his own attitude towards them, positive or negative, that is, he evaluates events in one way or another. Evaluative judgments (statements, opinions about a certain fact, object, phenomenon) express an attitude towards facts and evaluate their significance. These judgments can include both a purely evaluative component (“bad”, “good”, “immoral”, etc.), and an attitude towards the phenomenon in a broader sense, an explanation of its causes from one’s own position or an assessment of its influence on other phenomena (“can be explained”, “is an example”, etc.). As a rule, a value judgment in a text contains the following speech patterns: “in our opinion”, “in your opinion”, “from our point of view”, “apparently”, “considered”, “appeared”, “as claimed”, “as said”, “as noted” etc. Therefore, you should carefully analyze the provisions of the text presented in the task, mentally correlating them with a social fact or value judgment.
So, facts form the empirical basis of knowledge. A scientifically established fact is the basis of science; it is recognized as a given, as an immutable truth (one of the meanings of the word “fact” is “true knowledge”). While explanations of facts, attitudes towards them, and assessments of their role may be different.
To complete such tasks, many reference books recommend using the following recommendations:
| Factual judgments Factual judgments may contain the following phrases: | Value judgments Examples of value judgments include: |
| Arose | It is believed that they should |
| Include | From the researchers' point of view |
| Numbers – (volume) | Apparently |
| Decide | I think |
| Intended | In our opinion |
| This is (some fact) | It appears |
| At all times there was | Must be recognized |
| Provide | According to a number of researchers |
| Therefore (statement) | From our point of view |
| Accepted, approved | More likely |
| However... (some fact) | In our opinion |
| Have a shape | According to another point of view |
| Recognizes | One can assume |
| Prohibits (statement) | Understatement...unjustified |
| Delivered (fait accompli) | It is going quite actively (some kind of process) |
| Entered the top ten | However… |
| Tied up | Has a strong tendency to persist |
| Held | If preserved, we can assume |
| Merger announced | Something is in decline today |
| Graduated from college | All this has the most detrimental effect on... |
| Wastes a lot of time | - this is the greatest achievement of civilization |
| More and more are using | This year it has received a topical focus |
| Diagnosed | The level has increased significantly |
| Experts have recorded | The breakup was not acceptable |
| This caused a significant increase | Oil company shares become a “locomotive” |
| The next International Design Festival took place | The shares are unlikely to be stable |
| In the study took part 30,000 men | She's doing the right thing |
| date | Habit can lead |
| It actually happened | It received a topical focus and became more modern. |
| Happened | The level of submitted work has increased significantly |
| The previously existing gap between “medal” projects and all others could not be considered acceptable | |
| We believe that this is the distribution of responsibilities negative affects family relationships | |
| This is an opinion may be due to low level of education |
Theoretical statement- this is such an initial statement of a single universal theory or such a statement, derived in the process of consistent reasoning from previously established statements of this theory, which does not contradict all the adjacent initial and derivational statements of a single universal theory.
Actual character it is customary to call an action in reality, some real event that can be tied to a specific time or place; phenomenon or existing state of affairs.
Signs that help you determine the actual character are:
- the presence in the sentence of numbers defining the date, quantity, percentage, etc. (VTsIOM conducted a social survey, according to the results of which 50% of respondents spoke satisfactorily about their Unified State Exam results);
- past tense of the event being described (CSKA beat PSV in the last Champions League match);
- quote from a specific person (Aristotle said: “The more I know, the more I realize that I know nothing”).
Value judgments are subjective in nature, i.e. a person’s opinion, which may contain both positive and negative feedback about the object of knowledge; various kinds of forecasts and assumptions; various kinds of comparisons and evaluations.
Signs that help you determine a value judgment are:
The presence of introductory words in the sentence (of course, undoubtedly, obviously, probably, perhaps, probably, seems, first of all, in addition, on the contrary, on the other hand);
- the proposal is of a speculative nature, i.e. assumes the occurrence of any consequences;
- the opinion of the author, impersonal, i.e. when it is not clear who exactly is saying this (it seems to me, I think, in my opinion, etc.).
Theoretical judgment This is a description of an object or phenomenon, often capturing scientific knowledge: concepts, signs, functions, types of objects and phenomena, their connections, patterns of development. The most common mistake is to confuse a theoretical statement with a factual one. Remember!!! A fact describes an event, and a theory describes an object or phenomenon.
Recommendations to perform similar tasks:
First, carefully read the text in its entirety and comprehend its content. You should not attempt to determine the nature of a particular situation outside the overall context of the assignment.
Secondly, consistently analyze each position of the text, correlate it with existing knowledge about the fact, assessment or theory.
Third, be sure to double-check yourself.
If we analyze the example given above sequentially,
In the examination work, the most difficult tasks for students are to determine the nature of judgments - 25.
This task involves the distribution of judgments into two groups: judgments - facts, judgments - assessments. The goal is to highlight an important component on which modern social science is based. It is important to have a good understanding of the criteria according to which a judgment can be classified into one group or another.
What is a fact
A fact is knowledge in the form of a statement, the reliability of which is strictly established. A factual judgment records a real fact, a phenomenon of already existing reality. Judgments of a factual nature cannot be challenged. For example: “Inflation in 2010 was 6.8%”, “The theory of social stratification in the first half of the 20th century was developed by the great Russian sociologist P. A. Sorokin.” Science distinguishes two types of social facts:
- Actions, actions of people, individuals or large social groups.
- Products of human activity (material and spiritual).
Examples of such social facts can be: Suvorov’s crossing of the Alps, the Cheops pyramid, the words spoken by Archimedes: “Give me a fulcrum, and I will move the globe.” So, those events that actually happened are of a factual nature and are only material for further analysis and further value judgments. For example, the text states “as consumer income grows, they repair clothes and shoes less often, preferring to buy new ones, and refuse cheap and not very high-quality food products.” The position does not provide assessments. The same thing is true in the sentence - “this pattern was studied by the German economist Ernst Engel” - a fact is stated.
What is fact assessment
Evaluation of a fact - a positive or negative attitude. Judgments include:
- evaluative component (“wonderful”, “bad”, “aggressive”, “immoral” or an association - an image, for example, “Revolution is the locomotive of history”);
- attitude as an explanation of the reasons from one’s own position or an assessment of its influence on other phenomena (“The worsening of global problems indicates, according to scientists, the crisis of modern civilization”, “Apparently, it is impossible to identify a single, universal criterion for belonging to the middle class.”)
The scientific explanation of a fact is also associated with its assessment. A person who understands social phenomena cannot be indifferent to the facts being studied; he forms his own attitude towards them, positive or negative, that is, he evaluates events in one way or another. Evaluative judgments (statements, opinions about a certain fact, object, phenomenon) express an attitude towards facts and evaluate their significance. These judgments can include both a purely evaluative component (“bad”, “good”, “immoral”, etc.), and an attitude towards the phenomenon in a broader sense, an explanation of its causes from one’s own position or an assessment of its influence on other phenomena (“can be explained”, “is an example”, etc.). As a rule, in the text, a value judgment contains the following speech patterns: “in our opinion”, “in your opinion”, “from our point of view”, “apparently”, “considered”, “appeared”, “as claimed”, “as he said,” “as he noted,” etc. Therefore, you should carefully analyze the provisions of the text presented in the task, mentally relating them to a social fact or value judgment. In the text, as a rule, a value judgment contains such speech patterns as “It is believed that...”, “Apparently, it is impossible...”, “From the point of view of researchers...”, “It can be assumed that...”, etc.
| Factual judgments may contain the following phrases: | Examples of value judgments include: |
| Arose | It is believed that they should |
| Include | From the researchers' point of view |
| Numbers – (volume) | Apparently |
| Decide | I think |
| Intended | In our opinion |
| This is (some fact) | It appears |
| At all times there was | Must be recognized |
| Provide | According to a number of researchers |
| Therefore (statement) | From our point of view |
| Accepted, approved | More likely |
| However... (some fact) | In our opinion |
| Have a shape | According to another point of view |
| Recognizes | One can assume |
| Prohibits (statement) | Understatement...unjustified |
| Delivered (fait accompli) | It is going quite actively (some kind of process) |
| Entered the top ten | However… |
| Tied up | Has a strong tendency to persist |
| Held | If preserved, we can assume |
| Merger announced | Something is in decline today |
| Graduated from college | All this has the most detrimental effect on... |
| Wastes a lot of time | - this is the greatest achievement of civilization |
| More and more are using | This year it has received a topical focus |
| Diagnosed | The level has increased significantly |
| Experts have recorded | The breakup was not acceptable |
| This caused a significant increase | Oil company shares become a “locomotive” |
| The next International Design Festival took place | The shares are unlikely to be stable |
| In the study took part 30,000 men | She's doing the right thing |
| date | Habit can lead |
| It actually happened | It received a topical focus and became more modern |
| Happened | The level of submitted work has increased significantly |
Fact- (from the Latin word factum done, accomplished). Synonymous with the concepts truth, event, result. Something concrete, individual, as opposed to abstract and general. Facts include observations, specific events and situations. knowledge in the form of a statement, the accuracy of which cannot be disputed.
Theoretical statement- a statement derived from a general theory that does not contradict all other provisions of the theory. Theoretical provisions are abstract, based on the use of special terminology and the declaration of general scientific provisions. For example, it may represent a definition of a concept, a description of an idealized object.
Value judgments contain the author's assessment. A person who knows social facts develops a certain attitude towards them, expressed in agreement, censure, denial, affirmation, support, doubt, etc. As a rule, in the text, a value judgment contains the following expressions: “in our opinion,” “ in your opinion”, “from our point of view”, “apparently”, “considered”, “appeared”, “as claimed”, “as said”, “as noted”, “bad”, “good”, “ obviously".
Proposal A is factual (the bank has revoked the license)
Sentences B, C, D are in the nature of value judgments, this can be seen from the style of the sentences “be more careful,” “better check,” “beyond any doubt.”
Proposition D is theoretical in nature and represents a definition of a bank as the most important credit and financial institution.
Answer: 1 2 2 2 3.
Vistunova Irina Alekseevna