Value Rare and High

Abstract

Abstract What does it mean to call something especially significant or important or great? To be significant in the relevant sense is not only to be of value but specifically to be rare and of particularly high value. Having this rare, high value can be determined in two ways: either in a contextualized manner that determines importance relative to a particular standard of evaluation and a limited range of contrast classes or in a parameter-free “cosmic” manner. Regardless of the manner of scope, there seem to be multiple ways of achieving such importance: by having a big impact on others or on oneself or simply by being of value regardless of impact. But being important does not require that the important person and their value must have been irreplaceable. It just requires that the person actually be valuable.