We can be quite philosophical, us climbers. Well, kind of. We love to sit atop a crag, pondering the world, engrossed in nature. Or debating which disciplines of climbing matter more than others. But when it comes to actual philosophy and the complicated terms therein, I don’t suspect climbers are any more adept than anyone else in the general public.
I’m part of a group on Facebook called “Epistemology” where the About section states “Epistemology, the branch of philosophy focused on the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge, as well as its justification, is at the heart of our discussions. Here, we delve into the complexities of what we know, how we know it, and the validity of our beliefs”. It’s pretty heavy stuff and half the time, even when I’m interested in engaging, I switch off pretty quickly; battered by names of ancient philosophers and complicated terms. It is exactly the type of group that switches anyone not deeply interested in philosophy off somewhere else on the internet.
Which is a shame as there are some areas of philosophy that can have some very real-world applications. That funny word above, ‘epistemology’, is one example. If we put it simply, it is the study of knowledge; or in others words, how we think we learn new things. Without going too complicated, one example may be whether we learn by someone telling us an answer or can we learn through exploration and discovery?
But that’s not the philosophical term I’d like to explore here. The one I’d like to think about is called axiology. So let’s go explore.
Does Axiology Matter?
Axiology is, to make it simple, the study of value; or in other words, which things have value and or what matters to us (which should explain the pun above, terrible as it is). This is possibly the best video I could find to explain:
So why does this matter to us as climbers? And why am I chucking these weird words around at you?
Put simply, those things or actions in which we place value tend to be more important to us. Most, if not all, of us will have an item in our home that to anyone else has zero monetary value at all but to us is priceless. A childhood teddy bear, a ticket stub from a gig you’ve been to, your first karabiner, these are all examples of items that hold value for you.
Likewise with actions. Climbing for example. To us, ascending that project climb has incredible value and matters a great deal but to the person who walks past saying “you know there’s a path around the side?” it clearly doesn’t. Neither is right or wrong, those two people simply hold a different axiology to one another.
Using Our Axiology to Help Us
So what happens when we insert a choice? When we have multiple options to select from, one may have more value for us than another.
For example, on a personal note, boulder problems tend to hold more value than trad climbs because I prefer bouldering to trad climbing. Again, personally, outdoor boulders tend to have more value than indoor ones. Does that mean that everyone else shoul feel the same? Not at all, these are my values, not anyone else’s.
British climbing has a history of trying to enforce a standardised axiology across all climbers, with social pressure pushing people more towards certain forms of climbing and away from others. Thankfully, though, this has begun to change over the past decade or so and climbers are now more free than ever to choose whatever they wish.
It becomes even more important when we learn that our axiology is linked to our motivation too. Apologies if that seems really obvious but a study by Barron and Hulleman (2015) developed a model that we can use to help us determine whether a challenge is likely to be something that motivates us. It goes a little something like this:
Motivation = Expectancy + Value – Cost
So for us to be inherently driven to do something, we need to: have some kind of expectation we will succeed, so the challenge should not be too fanciful; it needs to have value, as we’ve been discussing; and it shouldn’t cost too much, in terms of time, money, effort, etc.
Suddenly, how much value we place on an action, item or in our case, a climb can have significant impact on our motivation. And we can manipulate this to our advantage too.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Axiology
Intrinsic and Extrinsic are two terms I use very regularly, in many contexts. From Motivation to Feedback, adding these two terms changes one crucial thing:
- Intrinsic comes from within
- Extrinsic comes from somewhere else
So if something appeals to our intrinsic axiology then it has value, for us, merely because we feel it is important. But we can adapt our axiology – in other words, we can change how much value something holds – by applying an extrinsic element to it.
Let’s have a look at some ways we can apply some extrinsic value to aspects of our climbing in order to increase it’s value for us and achieve something different.
Climbing Competition
Climbing competitions for example. As above, I would rather go climbing outdoors than inside, given the chance, but if it is sunny on the day of my local, end of season competition? Well that changes things a little. Throw in the (purely theoretical) potential for prize money and again, it changes. We’ve attached an extrinsic element that means we have increased it’s value.
The same can be said of friendly competition too. Have you ever been driven to stick with a project that you’re not really that inherently bothered with because you’ve got into a friendly rivalry with some friends or other climbers? Adding in some friendly competition – even if the other person isn’t aware that you’re trying to send before them – can add value to a climb that you would otherwise walk away from.
A Social Element
Interactions with others is often a huge motivator for climbers. Climbing has a massive social element and this can often add much value to something that otherwise, we would not be driven to do.
We may be more driven to go trad climbing over sport climbing in order to please a loved one for example. Likewise, we may choose to do one form of climbing over another in order to be with friends. For the single amongst us, we may even choose to go climbing somewhere we’re not really that keen for because we are quite keen on the other person going.
Venue can play a large part. A choice between one crag or another may come down to whether one is busier than the other, working both ways depending on whether we are seeking solitude or up for some company. What’s really interesting is that this can change on any given day.
Training for Climbing
For many of us, training for our climbing is something we know we should be doing but something that we really don’t want to. Often that is because it holds no value for us.
This could be training to get stronger, rehabbing an injury or completing technical drills. It could even be completing a warm up routine. If we can see that this is a means to an end, we can associate more value and therefore, make these important tasks more likely to be done and achieve that which we are actually looking to do.
Available Climbing
I have one client for whom bouldering holds absolutely no value. Truth be told, I’ve had a few in the past. However for many of them, they complete all the possible routes in the wall before they are reset and are left searching for something to do.
For those, we often switch bouldering from being a means to itself to being a means to an end. Bouldering now becomes ‘training for routes’ (for that person at that time) and in so doing, can increase it’s value. It becomes a playground for movement, an opportunity to train, a chance to chat to others.
We could switch it the other way too. Finished all the boulder problems on this set? Use the auto belays to get a bit of power-endurance or endurance work in. By changing the approach, we change the value of the activity to ourselves and thus, greatly affect our motivation. Crucially, we can find new challenges that still matter to our overriding goals.
Intrinsic Rules
All this being said, we always need to be careful relying on extrinsic stimuli to drive us. Carrot or stick, once you remove that which drives you, you’re left with a problem.
And this brings us back to our topic sentence: does axiology matter? Yes it does.
Whether we are thinking of our own axiology or that of our children or clients, knowing that which holds value for each individual means we can give ourselves (or those in our charge) the most motivation to succeed. From disciplines, environments or anything else, digging in to what really matters to us can mean we present ourselves with the best chance to succeed.