The Man Who Made Goodness Measurable

Robert S. Hartman (1910–1973) is one of those personalities who are hard to put into a single box. Born in Berlin in a time of political tension, he began his career as a lawyer and philosopher — and ended up as the founder of a new science that still has influence today. His life reads like an adventure novel: flight from the Nazis, a career at Walt Disney, a fresh start in Mexico and the United States — and finally the development of a method that makes our personal value system measurable. This method is called formal axiology, and from it emerged the Hartman Value Profile (HVP).

A life full of ruptures — and full of courage

In the early 1930s, Hartman, whose father was of Jewish origin, was a young lawyer in Berlin. He taught at the university, served at times as a judge — and openly opposed National Socialism. In a regime that demanded obedience and tolerated no criticism, that was life-threatening. In 1932 he fled — with a forged passport. On it was the name "Hartman," which he would keep from then on.

His escape first took him to Great Britain. There he found a job that didn't exactly fit his philosophical background: he worked for Walt Disney. His task was to expand Disney's business in Europe. In Scandinavia he opened offices, negotiated contracts, and helped make Disney a European player. One could say: without Hartman, Donald Duck might have conquered Europe much later.

The idea of formal axiology

But the man who drafted business contracts by day pondered the big questions at night: What is "the good"? How can we define values so that they don't remain empty buzzwords? Hartman didn't want to merely "talk about" values — he wanted to capture them systematically and scientifically. His core idea: "Good is what corresponds to its concept."

At first glance that sounds trivial — but it isn't. Because it means: "good" is not simply a moral label, but something that can be checked logically. A knife is "good" if it cuts. A friendship is "good" if it holds. A law is "good" if it is internally consistent and fulfills its purpose.

To make this way of thinking tangible, Hartman distinguished three dimensions of value:

• Intrinsic: the value of human beings in themselves. Every person is unique and incomparable — you can't replace them with "just anyone."
• Extrinsic: the value of things or actions according to their function. A tool is good if it fulfills its purpose.
• Systemic: the value of concepts, rules, and ideas. A plan is good if it is logically structured and works.

These three dimensions remain the foundation of formal axiology to this day — and they make one thing clear: values are not arbitrary. They follow structures we can capture and measure.

From thinking to testing: The Hartman Value Profile

The theory was exciting — but Hartman wanted more. He wanted a method that could make a person's individual value-thinking visible. That's how, in the 1960s, the Hartman Value Profile (HVP) came into being.

The process is astonishingly simple: you get two lists with 18 statements each (Check dein Profil uses an extended test with four rank orders of 18 statements each). In one list you rank statements about the "outer world," in the other statements about yourself. You decide what sounds "better" or "worse" to you and arrange the statements in a sequence. What looks like a small thought exercise is mathematically highly complex. Because from your rankings, more than 100 indices can be calculated that show how you assign value: in relation to yourself and in relation to the world.

A fascinating concept alone isn't enough — it also has to hold up under scrutiny. That's why the HVP has been examined in numerous studies.

• It meets the requirements of the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) in the USA: it does not discriminate by age, gender, or origin.

• Studies show high reliability — i.e., the ability to deliver comparable results in repeated tests.

• Validation studies at universities also show that the results are consistent and correlate with other psychological instruments.

And what does that mean for you?

All of this is interesting — but why should it matter to you personally? Because your value system determines how you think, feel, and act every day! The HVP gives you a kind of map of your value-thinking. It shows where your strengths lie — perhaps your ability to recognize complex connections, your compassion for others, or your determination. It also shows where you have potential that you haven't fully tapped yet. People who see their HVP profile often talk about "aha!" moments. Suddenly they understand why they react the way they do in certain situations. They recognize where they block themselves — and where they can use their energy more effectively.

The special thing: it's not a rigid label along the lines of "you are type X or Y," but a dynamic picture of your thinking. It shows how you judge today — and where you can grow. That is exactly where its power lies: recognizing where your possibilities are, and taking responsibility for them.