What are ethical values?

We explain what ethical values ​​are and some examples of this set of values. In addition, aesthetic and moral values.

1. What are ethical values?

When talking about ethical values ​​we refer to social and cultural concepts that guide the behavior of an individual or an organization . That is, these are ideal considerations, of the duty to be or of the socially accepted and valued norm of things. Therefore, they are not usually absolute, nor universal, nor eternal values, but they change as the society that respects them does.

The purpose of ethical values ​​is to keep clear the rules of the game of a society , in relation to the performance of specific functions (and quotas of power) of its bosom.

For example, professional sectors adhere to ethical codes whose compliance is usually monitored by a tuition or guild; but also public officials or elected officials to public office, acquire along with the power an ethical commitment to use it for the common good and not exclusively for their personal benefit.

The Ethics , meanwhile, is a branch of philosophy that studies the notions of good and evil, right and wrong, in the cultural framework of values of a society at a given moment, taking into account the specific changes the history of human thought and its considerations around itself. Thus, ethics is also a set of norms and values ​​that govern a specific human group at a particular moment in its history and culture .

2. Examples of ethical values

They are ethical values, for example:

• The freedom , or commitment to self – determination of each person and the ability to think and act for himself.
• The responsibility , or face the consequences of their own actions and decisions.
• The honesty or commitment to truth .
• The loyalty , or commitment to the values themselves or the group itself of belonging, beyond time and personal gain.
• The justice , or the commitment to truth and fairness for the common good.

As will be seen, human societies acquire a commitment to these concepts and look for the method that suits them (or more seduces them) to fulfill them, although at the same time they can be violated individually or collectively. In that case, people with low ethics will be discussed  .

3. What are aesthetic values?

Aesthetic values ​​are those linked to a certain sense of beauty or harmony . They are not linked to the moral or ethical judgment of things, that is, whether they are good or bad, convenient or not, but simply if they are beautiful or not, considering that the concept of beauty varies throughout the history of humanity and the different cultures and traditions that share the era.

4. What are moral values?

Moral values, unlike ethical ones, start from a spiritual principle of jurisprudence , that is, from what is right and what is wrong, and are based on tradition : cultural, religious, ancestral, etc.

Religions tend to be, today, the bulwarks of morality and “good customs” in contemporary societies, so their views often clash with the most advanced or avant-garde notions of society. Therefore, moral values are usually reactionary and are usually defended by the   conservative status  quo .