The meaning of finding the same language of values

It is mentioned in the Cosmopolitanism by Appiah that the meanings of things are not in our heads, that we can talk about things that we don't even know what they are, and yet the reason that we can use those words and mean something by them is that people in our language community do have the relevant expertise (Appiah 28). It is quite interesting in that way that language was created, just as a means of communication; however, if an individual has no need of communicating to others around them, language doesn't even have to exist. The reason language became necessary is because there is a shared public need among a group of people to be able to share thoughts, ideas and as the matter of fact be able to come up with values. Values therefore are shaped out of interactions between human beings. It is thus imperative that the language of values is influential and discussable among human beings.

Toward the conclusion of his discussion, Appiah pointed out that relativism about ethics and morality gives reasons to fall silent more than encouraging conversations. That in fact goes against the original purpose of language, or language of values to be specific. Stories told through the language of values were to be convinced who ever the stories were told to to accept the values communicated or at least should be open for discussions in order to find shared values among people. Through examples of stories, it opens a certain concerned set of values that give people the opportunity to express their opinions toward the situation. To understand why different people think differently from you allows you to discuss your way of adjusting their thoughts to the current environment and vice versa. It is in the end the target of finding the middle ground where certain values of different people meet each other and can be tolerated so that the people are able to live together in the same place regardless of where they came from originally.

As values change from culture to culture, the share values is more essential when individuals start sharing the same environment through migration, globalization, etc. Yet, is is then important that not only a shared language of values is used to communicate, but also to find ways for a shared point of view of the same world that people are living in together. For if we all live in different world, have different world views, and never have to see each other, again, there will be no need for discussions using languages of any sort. As the matter of fact, the meaning of finding the same language of values has become crucial due to the development of economy, sociology during the time of globalization when human beings from everywhere in the world are trying to fit their language of values with each other in order to live in the same world.

Source: Appiah, "Cosmopolitanism"