A Call to Virtues
on the Promiscuous Use of the Word "Values"
Many political prognosticators now pondering the health of our republic pronounce its moribundity. If its lifeblood is reasoned debate, then its health can be judged by the lively precision, intelligence, and civility of its public discourse. On these grounds, the pessimists may have the better diagnosis.
The lack of precision in our use of language is a primary source of toxins. One malignancy is the ubiquitous and promiscuous use of the word values. In order to resuscitate reasoned discourse, we need to limit this word's use to its proper range of meanings for at least three reasons: first, its misuse obscures its legitimate meanings; second, illegitimate meanings obscure the need for other words, like doctrines, principles, precepts, and virtues; and third, the obscuring of important words makes us more susceptible to propaganda.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Stephen Paul Kennedy is Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Human Rights, Trinity Law School, in Santa Ana, California. He and his wife Michele have four children and eight grandchildren. He is a member of St. Matthew's Parish, an Anglican Catholic Church in Newport Beach, California.
• Not a subscriber or wish to renew your subscription? Subscribe to Touchstone today for full online access. Over 30 years of publishing!
personal subscriptions
Purchase Print &
Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives including pdf downloads for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
gift subscriptions
GIVE Print &
Online Subscription
Give six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for the reduced rate of $29.95. That's only $2.50 per month!
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
kindle subscription
OR get a subscription to Touchstone to read on your Kindle for only $1.99 per month! (This option is KINDLE ONLY and does not include either print or online.)
Your subscription goes a long way to ensure that Touchstone is able to continue its mission of publishing quality Christian articles and commentary.
more on culture from the online archives
20.7—September 2007
Paul Didn’t Build Bridges to Popular Culture by Russell D. Moore
22.3—April 2009
Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by J. Daryl Charles
more from the online archives
32.2—March/April 2019
Reality Shows, Even in a Popular TV Series by C. E. Smith
29.4—July/August 2016
Russell Kirk: American Conservative by Bradley J. Birzer by Hunter Baker
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
