SECTION A
Essay
125 marks
Values are not what humanity is, but what humanity ought to be.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The topic separates description from aspiration: values do not describe how humans actually behave but set the standard they should strive for. The examiner wants an essay showing that the gap between 'is' and 'ought' drives moral progress.
ThesisValues are humanity's compass rather than its photograph, and moral progress happens precisely because people refuse to accept what is as what must be.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Philosophy: describing human behaviour cannot by itself tell us what is right, so values must be chosen and defended
- 2History: abolition of slavery and of untouchability came when values ran ahead of common practice
- 3Law: constitutions and rights charters codify ideals that societies have not yet achieved
- 4Individual: personal integrity means acting on one's values even when most people around do not
- 5Global: climate justice and human rights are values the world professes but practises only partly
Counter-view
- Some argue values grow out of what humans already are, for example natural sympathy, so 'is' and 'ought' cannot be separated. The essay should accept these roots but show values must stretch beyond instinct to be meaningful
Open and close
- Open: Open with delegates in 1948 drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights amid the ruins of a war that had shown humanity at its worst
- Close: Conclude that the day values perfectly describe humanity, they will no longer be needed, and until then they remain the measure we must keep rising towards
Where marks usually go
- Simply listing values like honesty and compassion without addressing the is-ought contrast
- Concluding cynically that values are useless because people violate them
- Confusing values with laws or with religious rules
Examples that fit
- ThinkerDavid Hume pointed out that one cannot derive an 'ought' from an 'is', which supports the view that values are prescriptive rather than descriptive.David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40)
- HistoryThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was adopted just after a world war marked by genocide, a statement of what humanity ought to be.United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
- CaseArticle 17 of the Constitution abolished untouchability in 1950, setting a value far ahead of social practice that law and reform still work to realise.Constitution of India, Article 17; Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955
- HistoryRaja Ram Mohan Roy's campaign helped secure Lord William Bentinck's 1829 regulation banning sati, when a value overrode a prevalent custom.Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829