Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Valued vs. Valuable

Value is a strange concept. In one sense, it is universal, since everybody knows that certain objects have it. But in another sense, it is a tricky concept because not everybody agrees on how much value a given object has.

To say that an object is valuable generally means that it has a general worth. A valuable object can be traded around. To say that an object is valued is to say that, to you, it has tremendous meaning.

In short, diamonds are valuable, no matter how much you do or don't care about you. Your grandmother's dingy, chipped diamond ring is valued because it belonged to your grandmother. (It could be a plastic diamond and it would still be valued.)

Experiment with these concepts. What happens when a valuable object isn't valued? What happens when a valued object isn't valuable? What happens when people think completely unrelated things are valued (or valuable)?

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