The Fact/Value Distinction

This video describes the fact/value distinction, an important concept in social science.

This video was produced in January 2013 for my research methods seminar (SOC 334) at Queens College in the City University of New York. If you are enrolled in this class, you must also complete the assigned readings and exercises. Instructions will be posted on my web site and on Blackboard.

[TheKawaiigurl]

This video was more helpful than my professor’s lectures! Thank you 😊

[gh]

I loved the presentation and especially the cartoon. It is a wonderful way. Keep going.

[ZJflower]

Thank you for this awesome video!

Your explaining skills are excellent, this video helped me understand the concept very well.

[tafadzwakarenmalgas]

Helpful but can i have 2 paragraphs on the importance of fact value duality with relevant examples

[sadi-bn]

Thank you so much.
Your works should be recognised more.

[TobiasCBrown]

Must values be shaped by the findings of science? Does science play a role in deciding values? (Is a value that contradicts science valid?)

[mahath]

thanks for the video! Baha'i is the best religion. Factual statement. xD

[koffeeblack]

Are questions of value objectively decidable? I think so. While certainly not decidable with scientific methods, they are decidable with simple logical analysis. Immoral behavior embodies logically inconsistent values. Survival embodies the value that life is an ends. Murder embodies the value that life is a means. But life cannot both be merely a means and an end. Thus, in order to consistently value our own survival, we must value the lives of others. Judgments about unethical behavior are thus decidable because we can objectively assess whether behavior embodies inconsistent values.