ULTIMATE VALUES

"LIFE MATTERS" is a simplified form of an observation from the ancient Greek philosophers. They believed that when it comes to establishing ultimate values nothing ranks higher than life itself. The Greeks believed that there were five ultimate values: “Truth”, “Good”, “Justice“, “Beauty” and eudaemonia. (The last is an untranslatable word which loosely means “human flourishing” or “contentment with one’s life as it is actually lived.“ The English word “happiness” is often used for it.)

According to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, all other human values are indirectly derived from those five ultimate values. However, they also went on to observe that all theses values are meaningless without a living, breathing, human subject to evaluate and appreciate them. A lifeless Universe with no living human beings in it would be a Universe with nothing of value in it because there would be no one to make such a determination. Things would merely exist without any other such consideration. Nothing would be good nor bad in that sense. Hence, it follows that life itself is the thing of highest value because without life there is no value whatsoever. In other words, life is the pre-condition for all values. And, that is why “life matters.” Either it does matter or nothing does. You can’t have it both ways.

1st exhibition: 1-3 December 2022 MIAMI ART WEEK During Art Basel