What are moral values?
Moral values are a set of ethical ideals, a set of historically and socially determined highest principles of human life. Moral values reflect people’s ideas about good and evil; they cover the entire set of moral norms and concepts , including concepts of happiness and unhappiness, love and hate, work, honesty, etc. It is with the help of these concepts that a person evaluates everything that happens around him, his own and other people’s actions, the correctness or incorrectness of one’s behavior.
Moral values guide the development of an individual and his activities, determine his position on any important issue, and form his idea of the world around him, society and his own place within society. In addition, they influence the formation of a person’s behavioral model, his goals in life and methods of achieving them, his civic position and the level of social activity. When his own value system collapses, a person finds himself in a personal crisis , he is confused, and can hardly make decisions on his own.
The baggage of human values is objective in its essence, and each value is objective separately. Values exist in our world regardless of our desires - we can only accept or reject them. However, the value system of an individual and its hierarchy is strictly subjective, it is based on the experience, knowledge and needs of a particular individual, on the personal choice of a particular person.
Unity of peoples
On the scale of nations and humanity, in a general sense, significance is also attached to certain objects. The whole society decides what is of paramount importance to it. A value-normative system is being drawn up. Society develops, its individual members interact with each other. If ideals and interests are similar, then the interaction is fruitful, favorable and effective. The people must have one goal and priorities in social and political life. Mechanisms for achieving common goals are collectively developed.
As a rule, great importance is given to social justice, civic duty, the richness of spiritual life, human dignity, and material well-being. Ideally, people care about what is happening in the world around them: whether resources are being used correctly, whether policies are being pursued wisely, whether wars are being fought, the state of the economy.
Examples of moral values
A fundamental and generally accepted moral value is a person’s love for other people. This type of love cannot be compared with the feelings experienced by people towards members of the opposite sex, since this type of love is manifested in the feelings that people show towards others, regardless of their age, nationality, gender and social background. It is this kind of love that allows a person to understand the needs of other people, not to harm them, teaches empathy, compassion and mutual assistance, and prevents manifestations of physical or psychological violence towards one’s neighbor. It is very difficult to achieve this, since human nature has a craving for competition, the struggle for survival, envy and hatred.
Love promotes the manifestation of other moral values in a person , for example, kindness and generosity , which are closely related to a sincere desire to help others. The most valuable gift from one person to another is his time, which should be given to family, friends, loved ones, acquaintances and, if necessary, even strangers, because often giving something is even more pleasant than receiving gifts.
Honesty is recognized as another important moral quality. The ability to remain honest with people and with yourself, combined with the ability not to flaunt the good deeds you have done, always inspires respect. A person with the qualities and values listed above is an example of a truly noble personality. Other important moral values include positive intentions, a benevolent attitude towards others, altruism, and a sense of respect for people.
Higher Order Priorities
The highest values are those that have a character characteristic of all humanity. The focus here is on peace, social order, freedom, friendship, trust, work, creativity, life, honesty, kindness, love, family ties, creativity, knowledge of truth, health, courage and fidelity. Patriotism is of great importance, which is an essential condition for people’s desire to defend their homeland and bear the duty of a warrior.
All of the above, as a rule, becomes the result of the prevailing traditions in a particular community. The more extensive the set of tasks that people solve together becomes, the higher they value duty and responsibility. Discipline and the ability to be responsible for one’s words and actions are of great importance today. Labor, high-quality performance of one’s duties, and the benefits brought to the world in which a person lives play a big role. When a person is not involved in work, he cannot organically develop and improve. Performing certain tasks has a huge social role. Education takes place, endowing the working people with a common consciousness.
Types of moral values
Moral values are divided into several categories. They can be individual, group and universal; depending on the type of relationship, they are divided into complementary and mutually exclusive.
Modern scientists consider universal human norms to be dominant in relation to group values, since universal human values are more universal , objective, impartial and universal, although they are capable of intraspecific transition, and even of losing their former significance and meaning when external conditions change, for example, in the process of modernization society.
The self-improvement of a particular individual is inextricably linked with his observance of the principles of morality, and this observance must be strict and constant. To truly become a better person, a person should try to be kinder, more attentive and caring to the people around him. In addition, it will be useful for everyone to be honest with others and with themselves, try to control their own emotions, thoughts and actions, not give up their principles and fulfill their obligations.
How are they chosen?
For many centuries, since ancient times, there has been the concept of eternal values that have not lost their meaning in our days. Humanity has always condemned:
- meanness;
- ignobility;
- perfidy;
- deceit;
- dishonesty;
- slander.
The norm and correct behavior have always been:
- decency;
- nobility;
- loyalty;
- sincerity;
- restraint;
- humanity;
- responsiveness.
Such qualities are directly related to the upbringing and self-awareness of the individual, the sense of the importance of these character traits. Compliance with a moral model requires the individual to voluntarily comply with ethical rules. Moral values and norms are manifested by moral foundations:
- hard work;
- collectivism;
- patriotism;
- philanthropy;
- good faith.
Life requires from a person the ability to reconcile personal needs with the needs of society, the ability to treat fellow humans with attention, and build friendly relations with them on the basis of mutual assistance. Love for the fatherland is manifested in honoring the traditions of the native country, understanding the importance of making a contribution to the global civilization of our people. Diligence allows us to recognize the spiritual significance and importance of work for the sake of human self-affirmation.
The meaning of moral values
Thanks to moral guidelines and values, people have the opportunity to determine their own position in front of their loved ones, friends, society and themselves, while simultaneously forming a personal attitude towards such categories as good and evil, deceit and honesty, morality and immorality, etc. The primary function of morality is to regulate human behavior in society and regulate the relationship between the individual and society. An additional function of morality includes its promotion of the formation of individual consciousness, as well as its influence on the formation processes:
- a person’s views regarding the meaning of life;
- the range of obligations of the individual to society;
- need to respect others.
Through the morality of consciousness, a person’s behavior pattern begins to be consistent with moral norms. A characteristic distinguishing feature of moral values is their control over the consciousness and activity of an individual in a number of important areas of life, including:
- sphere of life;
- interpersonal, family and work relationships;
- communication with other people.
A person encounters all of the above aspects every day, therefore, it is on moral ideas that his behavioral model is built, his relationship with the surrounding reality and people.
Why do people need moral principles?
Moral values create suitable conditions for building a civilized society. In this society, the common good becomes higher than personal gain obtained at the expense of other people. You can use moral values as a guide or code of conduct. They will help assess the consequences of actions before a person decides to commit them. Thus, moral principles recommend that we think before we speak, take into account the rights and lives of other people, etc. Unfortunately, not every person considers it necessary to comply with this code. The differences in moral values between two people can be so dramatic that communication can lead to conflict.
The process of formation of moral values
There are two interconnected processes for the formation of moral values: awareness of the significance of morality in ordinary, everyday reality and an emotional and creative approach to it. These processes should be combined with emotional development, since it is not enough for children to simply convey information about ethics and then simply require them to comply with moral standards. It is many times more difficult for them to form their own attitude towards moral standards, based on the desire to comply with these guidelines. Another feature of the process of formation of moral values is the understanding of the need for such a model of behavior. In this case, both direct emotions and the internal need to establish certain moral standards within society are significant.
Different scientists have different approaches to the interpretation of the development of moral values. For example, T.S. Karanchentsev and Yu.V. Larin call this process processing associated with the transformation of the external environment into sensual human nature and the cultural world. These processes are carried out by people themselves and are based on their own activities. Based on an analysis of philosophical, psychological and pedagogical literature, the point of view asserts that mastery includes the process of mastering and assimilation by people of moral norms, consisting of content, results, activity and target components.
V.A. Titov ranked mastery among the concepts used as generic ones in relation to the concept of “morality”. It is in it that two important features that characterize morality are combined: its ability to reflect reality and its ability to transform it. Consequently, modern science considers the development of moral values as a special method that determines the uniqueness of morality. Mastery is the result of a multivariate contact between the human world and the world of morality, acting as a way of educating the individual. In pedagogy, the essence of the term “mastery” is reduced to the process of a person’s mastery of moral norms and values.
conclusions
Each of us has our own, hierarchically structured system of values that connects the spiritual component of the individual with the spiritual culture of society. Value guidelines here act as the most important components of the personality structure; they are complex and multi-level integral formations.
The personality structure includes various levels of interaction between the individual and the social in a person, between his own future, present and past, as well as forms of consciousness and cognition by the individual of the surrounding world. Consequently, the basis of a person’s value guidelines is a certain value system, which consists, among other things, of moral values that were formed in the human consciousness in the process of the individual’s acquaintance with the world around him.
