“Some argue that true objectivity is impossible, that even the most rigorous rational analysis is founded on the set of values accepted in the course of analysis. Consequently, all conclusions are necessarily value judgments (and therefore maybe suspect). Of course, putting all conclusions in one category does nothing to distinguish between them, and is therefore a useless descriptor except as a rhetorical device intended to discredit a position claiming higher authority.
As an example of a more nuanced view, scientific "truths" are considered objective, but are held tentatively, with the understanding that more careful evidence and/or wider experience might change matters. Further, a scientific view (in the sense of a conclusion based upon a value system) is a value judgment based upon rigorous evaluation and wide consensus. With this example in mind, characterizing a view as a value judgment is vague without description of the context surrounding it.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_Judgement
“(…)A statement of belief or aesthetic reaction, rather than a logical argument.
The usual definition is: a judgement that something is good or bad or better or worse. In other words, a judgement of value (…)“
(…)However, in practice, there's an important connotation that usually attends the term "value judgement". The term is covertly pejorative, and it's pejorative precisely because it accuses someone else of making a claim that is covertly pejorative.
There is usually also an insinuation that matters of good and bad and better and worse are outside the province of reason. I believe that this is a bizarre view, and it should be brought out in the open where it can be clearly examined, not pushed covertly as a sort of psychological weapon. For example, instead of snidely dismissing someone's idea as a "value judgement" or "value-laden", one should boldly announce, "I do not apply reason and logic when choosing between throwing all of my friends into a gigantic meat grinder vs. providing for my children's education. After all, to prefer one to the other would be a value judgement."
--Ben Kovitz
P.S. A purely descriptive judgement is also not a logical argument. Why contrast value judgements with logical arguments, except to hint that there's something shameful or at least second-rate about the former? “
