11.6 Samples and ratings

A sample represents the behavior of a person or group of persons to be followed. The sample is fundamentally different from the example: the example speaks of what is in reality and is used to support descriptive statements, the sample speaks of what should be and is used to reinforce general evaluative statements. By virtue of its particular social prestige, the sample not only supports the assessment, but also serves as a guarantee for the chosen type of behavior: following the generally accepted pattern guarantees a high appreciation of behavior in the eyes of society.

Samples play a crucial role in social life, in shaping and strengthening social values. A person, a society, an epoch is largely characterized by the patterns that they follow and the way they are understood by them. There are samples intended for universal imitation, but there are also designed only for a narrow circle of people. Don Quixote is a peculiar model: it is imitated because it was able to selflessly follow the pattern chosen by him. A model can be a real person, taken in all the variety of properties inherent to him, but a person’s behavior in a certain, rather narrow area can also act as a model: there are examples of love for one’s neighbor, love for life, self-sacrifice, etc. The pattern may be the behavior of a fictional person: a literary hero, a hero of a myth, etc. Sometimes such a hero does not act as a whole person, but only individual virtues demonstrate with their behavior. You can, for example, imitate Ivan the Terrible or Pierre Bezukhov, but you can also strive to follow in your behavior the altruism of Dr. PF Haas, loving don Juan, and the like.

Indifference to a sample is itself capable of looking like a sample: sometimes someone who knows how to avoid the temptation of imitation is put up as an example. If the sample is a holistic person, who usually has not only advantages, but also known disadvantages, it is often the case that his shortcomings have a greater impact on people's behavior than his undeniable advantages. As B. Pascal noted, “the example of the purity of the morals of Alexander the Great inclines people to abstinence less often than the example of his drunkenness — to debauchery. It is not shameful to be less virtuous than he, and it is excusable to be as vicious. ”

Along with samples, there are also anti- samples . The task of the latter is to give repulsive examples of behavior and thereby prevent them from such behavior. The effect of anti-pattern in the case of some people is even more effective than the effect of the sample. As the factors determining the behavior, the sample and the anti-sample are not quite equal. But everything that can be said about a sample is equally applicable to an anti-pattern, which is, as a rule, less definite and can be correctly interpreted only when it is compared with a certain sample: what does it mean not to look like Sancho Panza in your behavior, understandable only to those who know the behavior of Don Quixote.

The reasoning appealing to the sample, in its structure, resembles the reasoning, referring to the example:

“If there should be the first, then there should be the second; the second should be; that means there must be the first. "

This reasoning goes from the statement of the consequence of the conditional statement to the statement of its foundation and is not a correct deductive reasoning.

The argument to the sample is common in fiction. Here, as a rule, it is indirect in nature: the sample is to be selected by the reader himself, through the indirect instructions of the author.

Along with samples of human actions, there are also samples of other things: objects, events, situations, etc. The first samples are called ideals, the second - standards. For all objects that a person regularly encounters, be it hammers, clocks, medicines, etc., there are standards that indicate what kind of objects should be. Reference to these standards is a frequent argument in support of assessments. A standard relating to objects of a particular type usually takes into account their typical function, in addition to functional properties, it may also include some morphological features. For example, no hammer can be called good if it cannot be used to hammer nails; it will not be good either, if it still has a bad grip, allowing you to hammer in nails.