Values and Value Reference in University Education

Abstract

This study aims to elucidate the concept of “value” as adopted by the author, and to highlight the importance of values in life. It seeks to address the issue of value classification in general, presenting a specific classification of values developed by the author, with categories that follow ontological divisions. Besides demonstrating that the source of positive (good) values is God Almighty, it deals with the question of the relativity and absoluteness of values, confirming the invariability of values, and the multiplicity of the forms of their actualization in reality. Moreover, the study discusses university education and its scientific, social, civilizational, and moral goals, as well as its frame of reference. It concludes that the frame of reference for university education has two aspects: practical and theoretical (intellectual), and that the overall reference for the practical is the value of values (worship), while the one for the theoretical is the holistic view of existence. The study also concludes that the two aspects of reference are complementary, indicating that their source is one, God Almighty, Creator of everything.