Values are different things than their situations.
It’s a different thing to say Killing is Wrong
than it is to say Thou Shalt Not Kill.
The former is a principle, and principles never
in principle, apply to any specific situation.
Which doesn’t make killing wrong in principle
because really, it depends on the situation.
Which is why the latter Thou Shalt Not Kill
isn’t exactly a value, because there’s no principle
only commandment, and whether or not you follow
the command always depends on the situation.
It could still apply, in principle, to every situation
as long as the person in question thought it held
any value for them in that particular situation.
R. Charboneau
Artwork: Gustave Doré “The Giving of the Law Upon Mount Sinai” (1866)
