KVE301/KVE401 Universal Human Values and Professional Ethics
Chapter 8: Harmony in Family – Understanding Values in Human Relationships
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Appendix
Assumed basis for respect today
Our basis for respect today is largely quite contrary to our discussion above. Instead of respect being a basis of similarity or one of right evaluation, we have made it into something on the basis of which we differentiate i.e. by respecting you, mean you are doing something special because you are special or have something special or are in some special position. Thus, all of us are running around seeking respect from one another by trying to become something special.
Today, we are differentiating in the name of respect. We either differentiate people on the basis of their body, on the basis of their wealth and possessions, or on the basis of their beliefs. There is no notion of respect in terms of right evaluation. Thus, there is no real feeling of relationship, only one of differentiation.

There are different ways we differentiate between people today! Let us look at them in detail one by one:
On the basis of body
Sex/gender
Race
Age
Physical strength
On the basis of physical facilities
Wealth
Post
On the basis of beliefs
Isms
‘Ism’ means any belief in terms of a ‘thought system that we have, or that we have adopted. There are also many modern ‘isms’ such as capitalism, socialism, communism, etc. the people following these sets of beliefs are called capitalists, socialists, communists, and so on. We only have to look into this today, and we shall find countless such belief systems … and the people that have adopted them or are following them have been exposed to them since childhood. Believing theirs to be the right belief. However, all beliefs, as we have seen are at the level of desires, thoughts, and expectations (selections) in ‘I’ (activities 3, 4, 5). As we have already seen, there is no definiteness at this level, and hence, this becomes a cause for differentiation.