ABSTRACT
The word “value” has many meanings. Brown (1984) defines it as “an enduring conception of the preferable which influences choice and action.” “Preference” is used here to mean the ranking of one thing by an individual below or above another thing because of a notion of betterness. Nevertheless, there are two other nonpreferential related uses of value: a functional or mathematical value of a variable (i.e. if 7n + n2 = 60, then the value of n = 5), or as Andrews and Waits (1978) describes “functional value relationships.” This concept of value refers to a biological or physical relationship of one nonhuman entity to another, for example, the value of nitrogen in corn production. It is the job of applied sciences to determine these functional values. These I-O relationships can exist whether or not humans prefer them or are even aware of them; they are discoverable, but exist no matter what we prefer.
