"Moral values of the Russian people" | Social Science Article:

What are moral values

Moral values are significant and important material and intangible objects endowed with subjective meaning. Every day we are faced with a situation of moral choice; our actions are based on internal values and beliefs.

Values themselves are objective. They already exist in the world; people only accept or reject them. But the personal system and hierarchy of values is always subjective. A person selects and ranks values according to his needs, knowledge, experience, motivation and perception. Values are life guidelines that unite or separate people and determine the specifics and nature of interpersonal relationships.

Moral values help distinguish good from evil, determine what is good and what is bad. Universal moral values include:

wisdom,
happiness,
Liberty,
Love,
family,
mercy,
honesty,
sincerity,
diligence,
loyalty,
truthfulness,
goodwill,
reliability,
decency,
responsibility,
work,
true,
Human,
knowledge,
culture, etc.

Respect for human rights and freedoms, the very fact of human life, is valued. We can name many more universal moral values (the largest classification has 46 positions). But not for all people universal human values are internal values. The formation of a value system depends on the environment in which a person grows and is educated.

In turn, values influence the direction of activity and personality, actions and actions, social activity and position, attitude towards oneself and the world, behavior, goals and the choice of means to achieve them. A person needs values to maintain the meaning of life and to understand the trajectory of life’s path. If the value system collapses, then a person finds himself in a difficult, crisis situation, a state of confusion and uncertainty. He does not know what he wants from life, he doubts when making decisions.

Spiritual values

A person’s spiritual values indicate his highest level of development, personal maturity. By its nature, spirituality itself is not just a structure, but a way of human existence, which includes responsibility and freedom.

It is these values that help each individual break out of an environment of isolation limited only by material needs. Thanks to them, a person becomes part of the creative energy of higher powers. He is able to go beyond his own inner “I”, opening up in relationship with the world at a higher level of development.

It is important to note that spiritual values motivate a person to perform certain actions that are radically different from ordinary, mundane ones. In addition, they act as a kind of prerequisite for responsibility, granting personal freedom and limitlessness.

Types of spiritual values

1. Meaningful values

are ideals, the main life guideline that connects the individual’s universe with dehumanized existence. They are of a purely individual nature, both for the person himself and for the history of each culture. The main concepts inherent in this type are life and death, the confrontation between good and evil, peace and war. Past, memory, future, time, present, eternity - these are the ideological values that are subject to comprehension by the individual. They form an idea of the world as a whole, which is undoubtedly characteristic of every culture. In addition, such ideological and philosophical values help determine the attitude of each of us towards others, about our place in this world. Ideas about individuality, freedom, humanism and creativity help us do this. It is worth noting that they are the ones that border on the values belonging to the second type.

2. Moral

refer to those spiritual values that help a person regulate his relationships with people from the point of view of the eternal struggle between existing and proper actions and concepts. This category of values is associated with such unwritten laws as: prohibitions, principles, norms, regulations. The main ones here are good and evil. A person’s idea of them determines, first of all, his interpretation of the following values: dignity, humanity, justice and mercy. It is with their help that a person is able to see himself as a part of all humanity. Thanks to these concepts, the main, “golden” rule of morality is formulated: “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.” Moral values regulate relations between communities, groups of people and also includes the following concepts:

conscientiousness;
loyalty;
patriotism;
duty;
honor;
collectivism;
hard work;
politeness;
tact.

3. Aesthetic values

related to the creation of harmony and its identification. The feeling of psychological comfort occurs precisely when an individual manages to establish relationships with the world, with others and with himself. This category of spiritual values plays an important role in a person’s life, because they are closely related to his emotional culture, the ability to experience a strong character, and the ability to sense various shades of feelings and moods. Aesthetic values constitute ideas of integrity, perfection and include: the comic, the beautiful, the tragic and the sublime.

Spiritual and moral values

Moral values are a set of norms that form the moral code of every person. They, along with the spiritual, form the basis of society. Thus, spiritual values represent the measurement of life not by the number of new material acquisitions and the amount of money in the wallet, but moral ones - principles that are fundamental for the individual in any situation. She will not violate them under any circumstances.

Types and levels of values

Psychologist and sociologist S. V. Kapikanov divides values into two groups: socially destructive and socially constructive. The author includes money, fame, comfort, and bodily pleasure as the first. To the second - family, love, faith, homeland. The first group of values turns people into things, destroys relationships, and teaches us to perceive others as a means to an end or as an obstacle. The second group teaches mutual assistance, support and unity.

But it is worth mentioning the relativity of individual values. Not all people are ready to go over the heads of others for the sake of personal success. And others are even ready to commit deception and fraud for the sake of their family. Any value must be assessed exclusively in the value system of an individual.

This is far from the only classification. In general, the following criteria and types of values can be distinguished:

by object: material, spiritual (moral);
by content and subject: socio-political, economic, moral;
by subject: social, class, group;
by purpose: selfish, altruistic;
by level of generality: concrete, abstract;
by method of manifestation: persistent, situational;
by role in human activity: terminal (goal), instrumental (method);
according to the content of the activity: cognitive, subject-transforming;
by affiliation: personal, group, collective, public, national, universal;
in relation to the group and society: positive, negative.

There are many more classifications of values, but in a broad sense they can be divided into two groups: material and moral (spiritual). Values are formed during specially organized (family, school) and random (street, media, friends) upbringing.

Additional events

In addition to school and conversations between parents, various trips and events will help to raise a child spiritually. A socially active life makes a person self-confident, helps to clearly navigate the world, form the right values, and achieve natural development. In addition, any trip implies additional knowledge about the world around.

Extracurricular activities should be varied

Parents can drive the child or encourage his outings that form basic values:
To local museums, especially local history museums;
Galleries, exhibitions, installations, national attractions;
Drama theatre, opera, ballet, puppet or shadow theatre;
Walks to monuments, trips to the park;
Trips related to sports, for example, to a rope park;
Attending football, tennis, other competitions or clubs;
Thematic camps, school version;
A moral event for the holiday, for example, giving flowers to veterans, helping to clean up the area, beautifying the forest, planting a tree, and so on.

Attending the theater is one of the forms of moral education.
At the same time, it is important that parents not only send their children on such cool trips or entrust them to their grandmother.
It is important that they also organize such moral education and enjoy such trips or activities. In many ways, children are not raised by words or trips; their personality is determined by the example of their elders; spiritually, it has an overwhelming influence on the child’s development opportunities. Children not only look up to him and strive to be like him at a very young age, it is a positive example that they will try to surpass upon reaching adulthood. leave a comment

Moral development of personality

The value system reflects the individuality of a person, but at the beginning of life (the first years after birth) a person internalizes someone else’s value system (parents, teachers). Gradually one of the possible relationships to it is formed:

active (full acceptance and support);
counteracting (internal and external contradiction to the proposed system);
conformal (conditional external acceptance with internal denial);
completely indifferent;
negating (criticism of the system, denial, attempts to change it).

The first serious breakdown of the established value system occurs in adolescence. Then comes the peak of development of moral consciousness. However, its formation begins even earlier.

American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg developed a theory of moral development of the individual. The author identified three stages of development of moral consciousness. Each stage has two substages:

Pre-conventional. The first stage is a focus on punishment and obedience (how can I avoid punishment?). The second stage is hedonic orientation (what good does this do to me?).
Conventional. The first stage is orientation towards the values of a significant group (the model of a good child, an obedient citizen). The second stage is an attitude towards maintaining the established order, rules, justice (following the rules and laws).
Post-conventional. The first stage is the idea of morality as a product of a social contract. The second stage is your own ethical principles, living according to your conscience. Laws are perceived as a flexible mechanism, but life, liberty and justice are valued more.

According to Kohlberg's theory, most people reach the second stage of the second stage and stop there. In general, the level of development of moral consciousness depends on the level of intelligence and general development of the individual.

The transition to a new level or stage occurs through the development of empathy and cognitive skills. The new stage retains everything that was learned in the previous ones. You cannot skip any stage, but you can linger at one of the stages or go down. Moreover, development and transitions do not depend on age. Some people can reach the third level already in their youth, while others spend their entire lives at the first level.

Moral norms and principles are formed exclusively in the process of social interaction. Punishment and censure are not effective methods of moral education. You can instill values in a child only by personal example or examples from books, films, cartoons, games, etc. The same thing happens in adult life. You can change your value system and develop moral consciousness at any age.

System of moral values. Good and evil in history

Morality is a Russian word that comes from the root “morality”. It first entered the Russian language dictionary in the 18th century and began to be used along with the words “ethics” and “morality” as their synonym.

Morality is taking responsibility for one's actions. Since, as follows from the definition, morality is based on free will, only a free being can be moral. Unlike morality, which is an external requirement for an individual’s behavior, along with the law, morality is an internal attitude of an individual to act in accordance with his conscience.

Moral values are what the ancient Greeks called “ethical virtues.” The ancient sages considered prudence, benevolence, courage, and justice to be the main virtues. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the highest moral values are associated with faith in God and zealous reverence for him. Honesty, loyalty, respect for elders, hard work, and patriotism are revered as moral values among all nations. And although in life people do not always show such qualities, they are highly valued by people, and those who possess them are respected. These values, presented in their impeccable, absolutely complete and perfect expression, act as ethical ideals.

Moral (moral) regulations are rules of behavior focused on specified values. Moral regulations are varied. Each individual chooses (consciously or unconsciously) in the cultural space those that are most suitable for him. Among them there may be those who are not approved by others. But in every more or less stable culture there is a certain system of generally accepted moral regulations, which, by tradition, are considered mandatory for everyone. Such regulations are moral norms.

It is clear that moral values and ideals, on the one hand, and moral regulations and norms, on the other, are inextricably linked. Any moral value presupposes the presence of appropriate regulations for behavior aimed at it. And any moral regulation implies the presence of a value towards which it is aimed. If honesty is a moral value, then the regulative follows: “Be honest.” And vice versa, if a person, by virtue of his inner conviction, follows the regulation: “Be honest,” then for him honesty is a moral value. Such a relationship between moral values and regulations in many cases makes their separate consideration unnecessary. When talking about honesty, they often mean both honesty as a value and a regulation that requires one to be honest. When it comes to characteristics that are equally related to both moral values and ideals and moral regulations and norms, they are usually called principles of morality (morality, ethics).

The most important feature of morality is the finality of moral values and the imperativeness of moral regulations. This means that the principles of morality are valuable in themselves. That is, to questions such as: “Why are moral values needed?”, “Why strive for moral values?”, “Why should a person observe moral standards?” - there is no other way to answer than to admit that the purpose for which a person follows moral principles is to follow them. There is no tautology here: simply following moral principles is an end in itself, i.e. the highest, final goal and there are no other goals that one would like to achieve by following moral principles. They are not a means to achieve any underlying goal.

The categories of good and evil constitute the essence of man’s eternal choice, the meaning of his earthly existence. This problem has appeared since the appearance of man. Without a person's awareness of what is good and evil, it is impossible to comprehend other categories of ethical values. The question of good and evil is the center of all religious doctrines known to mankind. Problems of good and evil are understood in philosophy, ethics, psychology and other sciences. Many literary works are devoted to this topic. This problem never ceases to excite humanity, forcing us to look for new answers to age-old questions.

Good and evil are the central concepts that determine the moral consciousness of a person. They are associated with the assessment of the totality of actions and activities. Good is the main criterion for morality; all moral categories are considered from its perspective; it combines all positive norms and requirements. In addition, goodness itself acts as a motive that determines human activity.

Evil is the opposite category to good. It expresses the totality of all negative phenomena that are subject to condemnation and overcoming. Evil reflects all morally negative concepts: deception, meanness, cruelty.

Moral actions are a choice between good and evil. This choice always means the action of a person’s free will; it is possible when a person understands what is good and evil and has an assessment of actions in accordance with these concepts. Good and evil are closely interconnected in life and make it contradictory. On the one hand, a person acts as an individualist, with his inherent desire for selfishness, on the other hand, he is distinguished by a sense of duty and personal responsibility for what is happening.

Throughout history, there have been many theories about the relationship between good and evil. Religious theory recognizes the source of good as the highest universal power - the power of God; evil is recognized as a sin that man inherited from Adam and Eve. Naturalistic theories saw in man himself the source of good and evil aspirations.

Hedonists believed that goodness is a source of pleasure, everything that leads to happiness. Evil is suffering, misfortune, everything that leads to the destruction of human life.

The ethics of utilitarianism states that good is what is beneficial for a person, evil is what is harmful to him. They recognize that a person does not always understand what is beneficial for him.

Modern theories believe that good and evil cannot be defined in a universal human context, they are a product of the conscious choice of the person himself.