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The Value of Fossil Collections
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 July 2017
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“VALUE,” WROTE John Ruskin (1862), “is the life-giving power of anything; cost, the quantity of labor required to produce it; price, the quantity of labor which its possessor will take in exchange for it”. These distinctions see obvious enough. Yet in the bustle of everyday modern life in a highly materialistic society, it seems increasingly difficult to separate “value” from “cost” and “price”. How do we — as individuals, groups, or a society — assign a value to something? What, in fact, do we value? A glance at television or a popular magazine offers some clues. We value things economic, those associated with “making a living”, with solving the everyday problems of making one's way in the world. We value things that enhance our position or status in society, or that make our lives easier or give us pleasure or diversion. We value things that make our lives meaningful. We do not tend to necessarily value what's good for us, at least not simply because someone tells us it is.
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- Copyright © 2000 by The Paleontological Society
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