What are moral values

Types of values

It is not so easy to classify all the diversity of ideas about correct behavior. The highest moral values ​​are viewed from different angles depending on the environment in which they originated and existed.

When classifying priorities, they usually rely on the sphere of life of society, the bearers of certain views, the mechanism by which they build a hierarchy of spheres of life that are important to them. The three main groups, which include things that are paramount for people, are aspects of the spiritual and material world, as well as the socio-political environment.

Research work on the topic “Highest moral values”

Table of contents

………………………………………………………………………….2

I. _ Introduction

……………………………………………………………………2-3

II . Main part

……………………………………………………………3-10

1. Highest moral values…………………………………………….3-5

2. Good and evil………………………………………………………………………………………….5-6

3. Freedom as a moral value..……………………………………6-7

4. Features of moral conflict and moral assessment…………7-8

5. The meaning of life as the highest moral value………………………8-9

6. Happiness as the highest moral value………………………………..9-10.

III . Conclusion

………………………………………………………………10-11

IV . Bibliography

……………………………………………11

V. _ Application

……………………………………………………………….12-15

1. Questioning of students of MKOU Secondary School No. 2 in grades 9-11………………12

2. Diagnostic data………………………………………………….13-15

I. Introduction.

Subject

: “Highest moral values”

Relevance.

Currently, the greatest danger facing our society is not the collapse of the economy, not the change of the political system, but the destruction of the individual. Nowadays, material values ​​dominate over spiritual ones, so young people have distorted ideas about kindness, mercy, generosity, justice, citizenship and patriotism. Raising a citizen and patriot who knows and loves his homeland is impossible without a deep knowledge of the spiritual wealth of his people and familiarization with their ethnoculture.

Problem.

Now, when a person’s views change, and this can be seen in his actions, confusion and despondency appear in society. Why is it very important to turn to eternal values ​​to search for truth? What underlies the concepts of justice and injustice, peace and violence, love and hate?

Target:

learn moral values

Tasks:

1. Conduct a survey and find out what moral values ​​are?
2. What are their signs?
3. What place do moral values ​​occupy in people's lives?
4. Draw a conclusion.

Object of study

– the object of work is the values ​​of good and evil, their system.

Subject of study

– moral development of the individual and understanding of the situation of moral choice.

Research methods:

1.Poll.

2.Use of additional literature.

My action plan

when writing the work was as follows:

1. I prepared a questionnaire.

2. She asked classmates and high school students what moral values ​​they know.

3. Summarized the results of the work.

Hypothesis:

Let us assume that values ​​act as one of the grounds for preferring good in difficult life situations, when evil may seem more profitable. They allow us to identify certain criteria for a correct, from a moral point of view, decision.

The need to study moral values ​​is determined by the historical dynamics of man, society, nature, the world, when new properties, objects, systems appear, the content of “old forms” changes, which requires their permanent value assessment. The high crime rate is caused by a general increase in aggressiveness and cruelty in society. Young people are characterized by emotional, volitional and spiritual immaturity. The orientation of young people toward the attributes of mass, mainly Western culture has become widespread due to the reduction of true spiritual, cultural, and national values ​​characteristic of the Russian mentality.

I. Main part

1. Highest moral values

The peculiarity of morality is that its prescriptions are universal, universal in nature and applicable in a wide variety of life situations. Almost everywhere where a person lives and acts. It should be noted that there are quite a lot of moral norms: from the simplest, requiring delicate treatment of others, to extremely general norms, norms-principles - respect your elders, don’t kill, don’t steal, etc.

However, the representation of morality as a set of norms and rules suffers from a certain limitation, since, firstly, the norms themselves require a certain justification, “justification” (why can’t you steal?!), and secondly, in specific situations the requirements of different norms may conflict with each other with a friend (for example, a bully chases a woman and asks those he meets to tell him which way she ran. Should these people they meet tell the truth, as required by a certain rule? Is a doctor always obliged to tell the whole truth to his patient?). Finally, we must keep in mind that life situations that arise can be so diverse and contradictory that it is impossible to come up with a norm for every case, since an “uncountable” number of them would be required. Consequently, in moral life there must be certain authoritative guidelines - highest values ​​that would cement and guide the moral life of society and the individual, and would be a kind of compass in everyday moral creativity. The fact that moral behavior is not the mechanical fulfillment of some set of instructions is easily discovered in the everyday communication of people. We meet some with a smile, while others are emphatically dry and cold. What can be considered the highest moral values? Obviously, human life itself, which is associated with harmony, order, freedom, and the opposite - death - with lack of freedom, decay, disharmony. Of course, it is worth thinking about the comments of those philosophers who condemn the cowardice, betrayal, and meanness with the help of which some people try to save their lives in extreme situations. However, it should be recognized that such situations are rather the exceptions that confirm the rule.

Thus, in morality, along with a wide variety of norms, there is a layer of highest values ​​- life, freedom, respect for the honor and dignity of every human person.

It should be emphasized that it is the highest moral values ​​that fill our daily lives with spirituality and special meaning. An individual with limited aspirations, or even a criminal, can be polite. But only a person who balances his actions and thoughts with the highest values ​​is able to lead a full-blooded, highly moral life.

2. Good and evil.

Good and Evil are the most general concepts of moral consciousness, distinguishing between moral and immoral. They are an ethical characteristic of all human activities and relationships. Traditionally, Good is associated with the concept of Good, which includes what is useful to people. However, good is relative: there is nothing that would be only harmful, as well as nothing that would be only beneficial. Therefore, good in one respect can be evil in another. What is good for people of one historical period may not be good for people of another period. Benefits have different values ​​at different periods of an individual’s life

(for example, in youth and old age). Not everything that is good for one person is good for another. Another criterion of goodness and, at the same time, a condition that ensures a person’s self-realization is humanism and everything related to the humanization of human relations.

A good deed that is the accidental result of malicious motives is also not fully good. Both the goal and the means to achieve it must be good. Even the most good, good goal cannot justify any, especially immoral, means. As personality traits, good and evil appear in the form of virtues and vices.

As properties of behavior - in the form of kindness and anger.

Evil in its content is opposite to Good and expresses, firstly, the most generalized ideas about everything immoral, contrary to the requirements of morality; secondly, a general abstract description of negative moral qualities; thirdly, an assessment of specific negative actions of people.

Evil includes such qualities as envy, pride, revenge, arrogance, and crime. Envy is one of the companions of evil. The feeling of envy disfigures the personality and relationships of people, gives rise to a person’s desire for the other to fail, misfortune. Envy often pushes people to commit immoral acts. Arrogance, characterized by a disrespectful, contemptuous, arrogant attitude towards people, is also evil. One of the most terrible manifestations of evil is revenge. Sometimes it can be directed not only against the one who caused the original evil, but also against his relatives and friends (blood feud).

All of them actually manifest themselves in any society, although they do not fully reflect the essence of these values ​​in the practical activities of people.

Freedom in the broadest sense of the word means the absence of any restrictions or external pressure on a person. Such an ideal state is associated with the concept of absolute freedom, which is unrealizable in real life, since a person is always objectively limited (many circumstances of our life are beyond our control). Therefore, freedom as complete autonomy from necessity is an impossible phenomenon. In the history of philosophy, there are three most general approaches to studying the problem of the relationship between freedom and necessity:

— deterministic (absolutes the power of necessity and denies human free will);

— indeterministic (exaggerates free will as opposed to necessity);

— dialectical (proclaims the principle of unity and interconnection of freedom and necessity). This approach is the most constructive and can serve as a methodological guideline for considering the problem of moral freedom and its relationship with moral necessity.

Morality imposes ideal moral requirements on human behavior (moral necessity), but at the same time, an indispensable condition is the voluntary acceptance of these requirements by the individual (otherwise the behavior cannot be recognized as moral). To do this, it is necessary that the individual himself realizes the need to fulfill these requirements, making them his personal beliefs (by testing them for truth in a practical way). Personal beliefs that coincide with the requirements of moral necessity give the individual the opportunity to act freely. Consequently, moral freedom is the unity of moral necessity and subjective voluntariness of behavior based on it (recognized necessity).

Moral conflict is the most complex version of the situation of moral choice, associated with the need for a person to choose between two mutually exclusive values. The consciousness of a person involved in a situation of such a choice states that the implementation of each of the chosen possibilities of action in the name of one moral value leads to the rejection of another value that is no less significant for him.

To avoid such situations, ethics recommends that a person be guided by general principles that can prevent conflict from arising:

1. The principle of constructing a hierarchy of moral values ​​(develop a system of value preferences);

2.Take into account the dialectic of the absolute and the relative in the application of any moral norm;

3. Refuse from extremes in the process of resolving a conflict situation, which include: conservation of the conflict, artificial inflation, mechanical destruction, etc.

Moral freedom is manifested in human activity, an important aspect of the study of which is the problem of moral assessment.

Moral assessment can be carried out both in relation to a person’s action and in relation to his activity as a whole. However, in order for an assessment to be considered moral, it must meet the following requirements:

1. Be as comprehensive as possible, i.e. take into account all components of an action (motive, means, result) in their interrelation;

2. Specific, i.e. based on an analysis of the conditions in which the act was committed (to establish the degree of its moral guilt or innocence);

3. Must be performed in the context of all previous activity, and not look at the act as an isolated act;

4. Must be carried out with a certain amount of emotional participation, since an emotional assessment of a morally mature person often turns out to be an adequate form of assessment even without rational procedures;

5. Should not rely only on one’s own experience, which may be limited both in content and in quantity.

Thinking about the meaning of life can only be valuable if a person feels the need for it. A person begins to experience the need for meaningful orientations in life during the onset of spiritual discomfort, the protracted nature of which can lead to a feeling of loss of meaning in life. This subjective experience is due to the existence of objective reasons: the loss of loved ones, loss of respect from others, humiliation of personal dignity, betrayal, devaluation of traditional moral values, choice of the wrong life orientation, etc. After this, a person, as a rule, rethinks his life. This rethinking conceals the source of his moral development.

The question of human life and death is most directly related to questions of the meaning of life. Of all those living on earth, only man has the end of his personal existence, since he is a being for which there is no replacement. The prospect of disappearance makes a person think about the meaning of such a fleeting existence, calling on him to overcome death morally, since it is impossible to get rid of it physically. A person is able to take a step towards immortality (morally) only if he has managed to enter the sphere of morality and understand life more deeply.

Happiness is an ethical category closely related to the category “meaning of life.” Happiness denotes a special psychological state, a complex set of human experiences associated with a positive assessment of his life as a whole.

A practical attitude to life forms an everyday idea of ​​happiness, based on the idea that material comfort is a symbol of human dignity and the main condition for a happy life.

To concretize the concept of happiness, it is necessary to distinguish several structural levels in it:

1. A feeling of happiness (or a moment of happiness), the occurrence of which is possible when a person comes into direct contact with something that evokes positive emotions in him (pleasure from praise, pleasant bodily sensations, etc.);

2. A feeling of happiness (longer in time and more deeply experienced), manifested in the form of a very specific mental state that arises without direct contact with anything that evokes positive emotions. A person can experience a feeling of happiness when thinking about a loved one, etc.;

3. The state of happiness is a relatively stable level of a person’s contentment (when, for example, he believes that his lifestyle meets his ideas about a correct and worthy existence).

A person is able to experience a state of happiness even when he is not in close contact with what causes him the sensation and feeling of happiness. To learn to experience a state of happiness, you need to make a general assessment of your life as a whole from the perspective of what is most significant (valuable to you) as often as possible. A person who is unable to make such an assessment often feels unhappy, reducing happiness only to sensations. It follows that happiness is not only an emotional, but also a spiritual experience that arises when the highest needs of the individual are satisfied.

II.Conclusion.

What moral rules a society lives by depends on nationality, social status, religion and even the state. For this there are values ​​that are called universal. These values ​​have not changed throughout human history. Thus, moral assessment is made on the basis of the values ​​by which society lives. How often do we see that in the same situation the behavior of different people is different. As confirmation, I would like to cite as an example the words of the poetess Yulia Drunina:

When a machine gun beats in a fever,

One is lying down, the other is running forward.

And so in everything and everywhere and always -

When trouble falls on your shoulders,

When life takes you by the throat,

One is lying down, the other is running forward.

Thus, morality regulates human behavior. In any situation, you need to remember the golden rule of morality. “Do not do to anyone what you do not want done to you.

When diagnosing students in grades 9-11 (see appendix p. 13-16), we can say that 70% believe that modern youth in general are characterized by cynicism and indifference to any ideals or values. The level of moral education of schoolchildren is not high enough. A number of identified shortcomings indicate the need for in-depth work with adolescents to eradicate them. The leading role in education always belongs to the family.

To sum it all up, I would like to say that even before gray hairs people tend to strive for self-knowledge and self-improvement. The more a person thinks about this and works on himself, the richer his spiritual world becomes, the kinder and more beautiful his actions. So it was, is and probably will always be.

I would like to finish my work with the words of Bulat Okudzhava:

Self-esteem is a mysterious tool.

It is created over centuries, but lost in a moment.

Whether to the accordion, to the bombing, to beautiful chatter

It is dried up, destroyed, crushed at the root.

This work can be used for history lessons, social studies, class hours and theme evenings.

IV.Bibliographic list.

1. Zolotukhina - Abozina E.V. Course of lectures on ethics. – Rostov n/d: “Phoenix”, 1999. – 384 p.

2. Kruglinitso T. F. Ethics. Experimental training manual. – M.: Publishing Center AZ, 1997. – 96 p.

3. Strezhneva T.V. Educational and methodological manual for the course “Ethics”. – International Institute of Labor and Social Relations, Minsk. – 2003. – 80 p.

4. Khubieva Z.A. Spiritual and moral values ​​and their role in human life. Bulletin of SevKavGTU, series “Humanities”, No. 1, 2004.

5. Ethics. – Educational and methodological manual for special courses, Ufa, VEGU. – https://ufalaw.narod.ru/2/etika/glava2.htm

V. Appendix.

Annex 1

Questioning of students of MKOU Secondary School No. 2 grades 9-11

Appendix 2

1. What recent changes in public morality worry you the most?

2. What life values ​​are most important to you?

3. K

How would you rate the level of morality in society today?

4

. Who is the main bearer of moral values ​​for you?

5. Are moral values ​​needed in the modern world?

16

What do people place value on?

Moral values ​​belong to the subjective (spiritual) sphere. This implies recommendatory and evaluative, normative ideas that should normalize the ways of human expression against the background of nature and society. You can believe in true and false ideas.

In essence, a value is only as important as the meaning given to it. Every moral norm has its own function and purpose for its creation. As a rule, this is the regulation of relationships between people.

Culture is of utmost importance. It combines spiritual, material, political and social aspects. By focusing attention on certain things, moral values ​​demonstrate how, by following the right path, you can achieve your own goals, realize your needs and creative potential. In this way, the individual's talents are revealed.

Moral knowledge and practical behavior (8th grade)

Unlike state laws, there is no official punishment for violating moral standards. What can ensure compliance with moral standards? The simplest solution at first glance is to take moral norms and turn them into state laws. Simple, but unwise for several reasons. Firstly, is it possible to fit concepts such as “compassion”, “honor”, ​​“conscience” into legal norms? And secondly, even if this were possible, would everyone who would fulfill such norms really begin to do so quite sincerely? Or will they rather portray highly moral people, thereby increasing hypocrisy and lies? There is a point of view that violations of moral standards, and crimes in general, are the result of property inequality. Proponents of this position argue: for morality to triumph, it is necessary to create a system in which the needs of all people will be fully satisfied. At the same time, the causes of crime will disappear. But there will always be people who strive for power and self-affirmation, while wanting to achieve what they want at any cost. Unfortunately, there are no legislative, social or other guarantees of morality. There is only one guarantee - it is in each individual person, in his ability to act morally .

Thread in time

Moral values ​​are a connection between generations, allowing elders to pass on experience to their heirs, share what they have achieved and push them to further movement and progress. Based on such a foundation, new people create their own priorities and improve existing ones. Moral values, in relation to culture, include an ideal to which it is worth striving, as well as one or another property of a thing that brings it closer to the best state.

It is also worth noting that views can be individual, collective, group, universal, national. Personal moral values ​​are how significant an object, idea or phenomenon is in the eyes of a particular person. It all depends on the level of knowledge, tastes, habits, inclinations, and other personality traits.

Each individual attaches great importance to this aspect of his life, but also largely relies on the opinion of society. Consequently, on the values ​​​​accepted by a group of people, which he accepts and shares. In order for a team, organization or society to exist harmoniously, they must have that important, reverent attitude towards which they can share.

People whose accents and priorities are set in a similar way usually find a common language much better. In this way, individuals unite towards similar goals.

How to determine your basic values ​​in life?

You can discover your core values ​​yourself using the 7 Steps to Discovering Your Personal Core Values ​​exercise. Go through the steps and determine your personal priorities.

Many people, when the topic of values ​​comes up, want to choose some values ​​from a list. After all, it’s easier as it seems to them.

In fact, values ​​are not chosen, they need to be discovered in yourself . Our priorities need to be identified and revealed.

When you look at the main priorities from the list, your consciousness will immediately make an assessment of which of the list of values ​​are better and which are worse. If you adapt to your consciousness, then of course you will choose those meanings that sound “good”. But this does not mean at all that these are your personal values.

Be sure to go through the second step of the exercise. During its passage, you will understand what your true personal priorities are and which ones you “chose.”

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.

Definition

Morality can be considered as an internal regulator of human behavior. It is assumed that the individual is independently aware of his moral duty. At the same time, she is guided by generalized principles of morality. And neither mass habits nor authoritative examples can influence the individual’s sense of responsibility for neglecting them. In this case, conscience comes to the fore. A person’s moral values ​​allow him to formulate his moral obligations to loved ones, to society, to himself, to take responsibility for his vision of good, evil, the meaning of life, a sense of duty, and justice.

That is, morality is one of the ways to regulate the behavior of people in society. This is a system of norms and principles that determine the nature of relationships between people in accordance with what concepts of good and evil, fair and unworthy, are accepted in this society. The main function of morality is regulatory. Moral norms and values ​​guide and correct human activity by taking into account the opinions of society. The auxiliary function of this concept is to participate in the formation of human personality and self-awareness. Morality contributes to the emergence and consolidation of a person’s views on the meaning of life, responsibility to society, the need for respect for the individual and the dignity of other people. Behavior and actions are assessed by moral consciousness from the point of view of compliance with morality. Evaluation can be expressed in approval, censure, sympathy.

The moral values ​​of society are special in that they regulate the consciousness and behavior of people in all spheres of life: in everyday life, in the family, in production activities, in interpersonal relationships. We encounter them every day. Moral principles embrace all people, consolidate the basis of culture, relationships created in the process of development of society.

What is important and priority today

In the modern world, universal human values ​​must have increased priority. There is a special hierarchy that arranges life values ​​into three steps. The decisive factor is the role played by one or another aspect in social life. Values ​​of secondary importance are noted. That is, without them, society could survive and function.

A separate group is elements of everyday life of the spiritual and material plane. They are needed in order to properly satisfy the needs of man of the most diverse kinds in the course of his existence. Thus, so that he has the opportunity to lead a prosperous life and continuously develop.

The third group is higher order values. This category includes those needs that form the foundation of relationships and the circulation of resources in society.

Role

Components of personality

Values ​​are an integral part of a person's personality.

If a person tends to love his family, strive for career success, and engage in spiritual development, then other people can use knowledge about his values ​​when characterizing his personality.

Love for family characterizes a person as responsible, loving and caring. Career success speaks of discipline and determination. The desire for spiritual development indicates high morality and intelligence.

Prerequisites for behavior

At the same time, values ​​are also the motivation of human behavior.

If a person’s own health takes priority among life values, then all his behavior will be aimed at observing this value, maintaining a healthy lifestyle , constantly monitoring his health, avoiding situations dangerous to the body, etc.

If for a person kindness, decency and sincerity are integral elements of spiritual values, then meanness, betrayal, and lies cannot be expected from him.

The exception is cases when a person departs from his life goals under the influence of external factors: thirst for profit, avoidance of responsibility, fear, etc.

In this case, it is possible to commit actions that contradict existing principles .

Often the result obtained does not bring the expected satisfaction to a person due to the contradiction that has arisen between internal principles and committed actions.

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.

Moral feelings and self-control (8th grade)

Self-control is the ability to control one’s behavior, based on the use of will, to resist the influences of the external environment and internal drives. Thanks to self-control, we are able to subordinate our own emotions and realize our own imperfections. Self-control can be called a strength of character, thanks to which we can suppress unnecessary emotions, control feelings and overcome complexes. Self-control is a strong-willed quality necessary for every successful person, whether he grows potatoes or commands an army.

The value of labor

It is through the work done that a person can realize himself and do better. A people is civilized to the extent that it respects and loves work. At the same time, the individual must feel the importance of what he does, benefit himself and other people, while using his best sides and being creatively realized.

The realization that your talents and abilities are applicable to the world around you and are in demand makes a person harmonious and happy.

Society is constantly changing, and along with it, the values ​​by which it lives change. Sometimes it’s hard to decide what is more important and paramount, you have to be torn. Each person must decide for himself what exactly is important to him, set priorities, then it will be easier to set goals and take steps towards their implementation.

Meaning of life

As for the meaning of life, it is determined by the characteristics of human existence and the individual attitude towards death. Awareness of one's own finitude gives a person a reason to think about the meaning of life and the transience of existence. The loss of the meaning of life becomes the greatest problem for the individual.

The search for the meaning of life is a promising task for all scientific knowledge, but over the course of history, two diametrically opposed points of view have developed on this issue.

The immanent tradition believes that earthly life has value and many aspects of it are very attractive. At the same time, the task of the individual is the active use of his time to become familiar with morality.

The transcendental tradition assumes that earthly life has no independent value, since it is not perfect, is arranged unfairly, and is unsuitable for the realization of true values.

Components of moral principles

Moral values ​​and norms are expressed in moral principles. These include hard work, collectivism, patriotism, humanism, and conscientious fulfillment of public duty. Collectivism obliges a person to be able to correlate his personal interests and the interests of society, teach him to treat his comrades with respect, and build relationships with them on the basis of mutual assistance and friendliness. The principle of patriotism is expressed in respect and love for one’s homeland, pride in the people’s contribution to world culture and their achievements. The principle of hard work is expressed in the recognition of the moral value of work as an area for human self-realization, respect for every type of work that is significant for society.