Value-based demarcation between the public and the private domain

As for other moral judgements, the demarcation between the public and private sphere cannot be secured by any rational method. The demarcation is far from value-neutral and its assessment thus has to take value orientations into account. To that end, the general pattern of human value orientations was derived from social surveys, philosophical, cultural and religious notions. The resulting value pattern, which can be considered as a first proxy for ‘human nature’, is made up by the two fundamental contrasts: between individual and collective, and between mind and matter. Macro-historic analysis suggests that the balance between these fundamental forces can be seen as societal end (telos), thus also suggesting an Aristotelean worldview in which virtue is the ‘middle way’ in between two vices. As soon as such a pre-Enlightenment telos is accepted again, the value demarcation between the individual and the collective, between private and public, can be defined and translated into operational criteria.