väärtuslikkuse

Väärtuslikkuse, the genitive form of the Estonian noun väärtuslikkus, denotes the quality or property of being valuable or worthy. The term is used in everyday language as well as in more formal or scholarly contexts to refer to the attribute of something having value, desirability, or importance. Väärtuslikkus encompasses several senses, including intrinsic value (value by virtue of itself), instrumental value (usefulness as a means to an end), and moral or social value (ethical or communal significance). It is closely related to, but distinct from, väärtus (value) and values (väärtused) found in ethics and axiology.

In philosophy, väärtuslikkuse relates to axiology, the study of value across different domains such as morality, aesthetics, and economic worth. In these discussions, value is analyzed as a property that may be intrinsic, instrumental, or contextual, and väärtuslikkuse serves as a descriptive term for the presence of value in objects, actions, or states. In economics or practical discourse, the concept often appears in qualitative assessments of worth, while technical measurements may rely on other terms for price or utility. In Estonian texts, väärtuslikkuse is commonly employed in analytical writing to discuss how much value something possesses or how its value is judged in a given context.

The term is neutral and primarily descriptive; normative judgments about worth are expressed with evaluative language and context-dependent reasoning. Etymologically, it derives from väärtus (value) plus the abstract-noun suffix -likkus, with väärtuslikkuse marking possession or attribution of value in discourse.