Elevating the Human Experience

Chapter 3Worth

Worth: the value equivalent to that of someone or something under consideration; the level at which someone or something deserves to be valued or rated

—Oxford Languages Dictionary

Extrinsic and Intrinsic Worth

The history of worth traces a journey in two distinct directions. The first definition of worth is most often about the value of a good as exchanged in barter economies or the merit of an individual, as in a “worthy knight.” It is the sort of worth that can be measured and counted that is most likely to turn up in a business meeting, as in “This is a worthy investment of time and resources.” It is extrinsic worth, or instrumental value, which can be more or less externally verified. This product is worth more than that product. This employee is worth a higher salary than that one.

The other definition of worth is more likely to show up in discussions of philosophy, ethics, and religion. It is an understanding of value or worth that is intrinsic, for its own sake, not in relation to anything else. The philosopher Aristotle called intrinsic worth “non-derivatively good,” the goodness or value that comes just from being. In the field of humanistic psychology, Carl Rogers pioneered the idea of “unconditional positive regard,” which is the acceptance of a person's intrinsic worth regardless of what they say or do. Pope Francis affirmed intrinsic worth in his book Let us Dream: The Path to a Better Future, in his discussion of shared human dignity and the ...