moral value essay example

50 Moral Values Examples

Moral values are the belief systems and principles that help us make decisions about the correct behavior in a given situation These morals will be the underpinning of most people’s personal philosophy .

Morality acts as the guiding principle for a functioning society. Without moral values, we would either live in a state of anarchy, or a society where we are kept in line only by threats of punishment from a governing figure.

But, in general, in our daily interactions, it’s morality that makes us continue to respect one another and treat each other with dignity. This is what many philosophers has called the unspoken social contract .

Moral Values Examples

Honesty means telling the truth, but also avoiding deception and ensuring you are not misrepresenting facts. Being honest can gain you trust from others and show that you have personal integrity.

Honesty can help you to build up a reputation for reliability and trustworthiness . This can help you meet other goals, like building positive interpersonal relationships and a respectable reputation. In this sense, it’s what sociologists call an instrumental value .

Different moral frameworks will have competing thresholds for when it is and isn’t appropriate to lie – i.e. should we be dishonest in order to protect someone’s feelings, or keep a child’s belief in Santa alive?

Example of Honesty If you found a wallet full of cash on the street, what would you do? An honest person would make an effort to locate the owner and not decide that the money was theirs without putting effort into finding the true owner.

2. Compassion

Compassion is when we feel sympathy for another person and are inclined to help those in need. To be compassionate is considered a moral virtue.

The term compassion originates from the Latin word compati, which means “to suffer with”.

Compassionate people generally demonstrate prosocial behavior, meaning their actions help others rather than harm them. They may also engage in altruistic behavior, where they help others out of compassion without expecting anything in return.

There are many examples of acts of compassion that can be seen in our everyday interactions. These can range from simple gestures like helping someone else who’s struggling with their groceries, to devoting your life to the care of the sick and elderly.

Example of Compassion If you see someone crying, you may feel a responsive sense that you want to help that person overcome their sadness and distress. A compassionate person might put their arm around the crying friend and offer some words of comfort and understanding.

Respect refers to honoring others by treating them with dignity. To be respectful, we would aim to be polite, kind, and honor other people’s wishes.

Respect can be demonstrated through words, actions, or gifts.

Being respectful doesn’t mean we have to agree with others. In fact, we often need to leverage the moral virtue of respect in times when we disagree with others. These are times when you will acknowledge other people’s rights to differing opinions and their inherent huan worth and dignity , regardless of their opinions, race, religion, gender, or socio-economic status.

Example of Respect Even if you disagree with someone else’s political views, you will listen to them without interrupting them or trying to bring them down. You won’t speak badly about them and will continue to acknowledge their right to be treated with dignity.

4. Responsibility

Responsibility means being trustworthy and dependable to make mature decisions, even when left alone and without supervision.

Responsibility forms the backbone of moral accountability. When people take responsibility for their actions, they contribute to a more just and functional society.

There are many types and domains of responsibility, including personal responsibility, professional responsibility, ethical responsibility, economic responsibility (not spending money recklessly!), environmental responsibility, social responsibility , and corporate social responsibility.

Example of Responsibility When Maria accidentally knocked over a display in the store, she immediately informed the store staff and offered to help clean up the mess. This showed her sense of responsibility as she acknowledged her actions and was willing to rectify the situation.

5. Fairness

To be fair is to try to treat everyone without prejudice or bias against or toward any individual.

One of the simplest ways to describe and explain fairness is to use the analogy: if you were in the shoes of the other person, would you feel the decision was respectful and treated them right?

The benefit of fairness is that, if everyone feels they were treated fairly, then there will be greater social harmony and a general sense of justice in the world.

On a personal level, fairness can be demonstrated whenever you take turns, share resources, always obey the rules, and so on.

Example of Fairness A referee has to adjudicate over a hotly contested game that’s broadcast on television. The referee makes sure they have a clear set of guidelines that both teams must adhere to, and they adjudicate without bias.

6. Generosity

To be generous is to ensure you look for ways to help and give to others. This could include giving your time (which even poor people can do!), as well as money, resources, and even kindness.

So, while we may think of philanthropists when thinking of generous people, we shouldn’t dismiss the generosity of people when they spend rare and precious time listening to others, or spending their time with the elderly to minimize loneliness.

Generous people do not withhold their resources or fall prey to vices such as greed and gluttony, where people try to hoard more than they need.

To be generous is to demonstrate care for the people around you. Generous acts can also create a ripple effect, inspiring others to act generously as well.

Example of Generosity If you were to donate 5% of your income to the cause of effective altruism, you may be considered a generous person – especially if you don’t really have all that much money to spare.

7. Work Ethic

Work ethic refers to the virtue of putting in hard effoty when at work, always trying to meet and exceed your personal best.

This is considered a moral value because it demonstrates that you will carry your weight in your workplace and community. You aren’t exploiting your work colleagues or your boss.

In some branches of Christianity (especially Protestantism – i.e. the “protestant work ethic”), it is also considered a Godly moral value, meaning to work hard is to honor god.

Example of Work Ethic A person with work ethic will turn up early for work so they can start as soon as their shift begins. They will also work very hard even when their boss isn’t watching. Over time, this earns the trust of the boss, and gets them a promotion above their other, lazier, colleagues.

Courage refers to the ability to prioritize a greater objective over your fear and, even, your personal safety.

It often means going into a situation that might be risky, dangerous, or otherwise scary. A courageous person isn’t necessarily heroic – everyday people can demonstrate courage by tackling something that is personally scary to them.

We consider this to be a moral value because courageous people prioritize a higher virtue over their own comfort.

Example of Courage Whistleblowers are often considered courageous people. These are people who point out corruption or misdeeds by the powerful, which often leads them to losing their jobs or even being socially outcast for standing up against power.

9. Tolerance

Sometimes we don’t like other people, but we tolerate them because that’s the moral thing to do. What’s the alternative – being rude? That would be rather immoral .

In today’s world, with people online being so rude and everyone being politically divided, the moral virtue of tolerance is in short supply. But by being tolerant, you’re standing up against the tide and demonstrating strength of character.

To tolerate others demonstrates the same sorts of moral fibre as respect – you’re honoring other people’s human dignity, despite not liking them or disagreeing with them.

Example of Tolerance An example of intolerance is respecting someone else’s lifestyle choice and acknowledging that they have as much right to be part of your community as anyone else. This means even if they have a different religion or sexuality or lifestyle choice as you, you still treat them kindly and include them just as you would anyone else.

10. Humility

Humility is the quality of having a modest view of one’s own importance. It involves recognizing our mistakes and limitations and valuing the worth and contribution of others.

Humble people acknowledge that their success isn’t the ultimate sign of their own superior character or personality traits. They know that success comes from a range of factors, including our family upbringing, our culture, our society, and even luck. Yes, our hard work is part of this, but only one part.

So, to be humble means to not be boastful. You will always keep in mind that you’re very privileged to have success in your life, even if you also worked hard for it.

Example of Humility After winning the chess tournament, instead of boasting about your victory, you will thank your opponent and his coach for providing a challenging game. This will demonstrate that you’re grateful for your competitor and that your win doesn’t mean you’re an innately better person than them.

Moral Values List (A to Z)

• Adaptability
• Benevolence
• Consistency
• Cooperativeness
• Decisiveness
• Self-Discipline
• Forgiveness
• Peacefulness
• Perseverance
• Reliability
• Responsibility
• Self-Control
• Trustworthiness

Where do Moral Values Come From?

Moral values can come from a variety of sources, including our own personal experiences. But all societies and cultures try to pass-on moral values from one generation to another through a range of institutions, including:

• Cultural Background: Different cultures have diverse sets of moral values. Each culture’s morality comes from its shared experiences, traditions, folklore , stories, customs, and cultural norms. These are passed down through the process of socialization in childhood.
• Religion: Religions act as holders of morality. Each religion has a philosophy and foundation for understanding right from wrong, often based on the teachings of a God, prophet, or other sacred soruce.
• Family and Upbringing: The first and most important people who shape our sense of morality are our family – especially our parents. These people instill moral values through their teachings, but also by modelling moral behaviors in their everyday actions. Wew often call the moral values passed on by family our family values .
• Education: Schools pass on morals and ethics, either overtly or covertly. The covert manner is through the everyday interactions between teachers and students, especially when it comes to discipline. We call this the ‘ hidden curriculum ’.
• Personal Experiences: While we tend to rely on our cultural and social contexts for developing our beliefs about morality, we also rely on our personal life experiences to form our own personal values . This is why your moral code may differ from other people raised in close proximity to you, such as your brothers and sisters.

Of course, moral values can evolve over time. As we gain more experiences or become exposed to new cultures, mentors, and philosophies, our morality will evolve. Even cultures have evolving moralities, as each successive generation is impacted by a range of new factors that shape their belief systems .

Moral values shape who we are. The differ from other types of values , such as social values , cultural values , and organizational values. However, all the different types of values overlap to help us to develop a set of coherent beliefs that will shape our actions, behaviors, and approach to life.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 30 Globalization Pros and Cons

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Essay On Values

Essay on Moral Values

500+ words essay on moral values.

Moral values are considered an essential aspect of human life. Moral values determine one’s nature, behaviour and overall attitude towards life and other people. In our lives, our decisions are primarily based on our values. The choices we make in our lives impact us and our society, organisation and nation. It is believed that a person with good values makes wise decisions that benefit everyone. On the contrary, people who have no moral values think only of themselves. They don’t care about others’ needs or society and make choices based solely on their needs. They create an unfriendly and sometimes unsafe environment around themselves.

Importance of Moral Values

The value of a person reflects their personality. Moral values help us understand the difference between right and wrong, good and evil and make the right decisions and judgements. They empower and drive a person to be a better human being and work for the betterment of society. Some moral values a person can inculcate in themselves are: dedication, honesty, optimism, commitment, patience, courtesy, forgiveness, compassion, respect, unity, self-control, cooperation, care and love. A person becomes humble and dependable with good values. Everyone looks up to a person with good values, whether personally or professionally.

If a person has good values, he spreads love, joy, and positive vibes. A person with good values works for the upliftment of society, along with taking care of their life. Such people are always considerate of the needs of others and understand the importance of unity and teamwork. They don’t lose their temper very easily and forgive others. People with good values are an asset to the organisation they work in and the society they live in.

Values Must Be Imbibed

We need to imbibe good values to function as humans and live in a society. Good values include dedication towards work, honesty, respect, commitment, love, helping others, taking responsibility for others’ deeds and acting responsibly. All these values are essential for the positive growth of an individual.

If you want to become a true leader and inspire others, you need to have good values. People always show respect and love to a person with good values. Additionally, they’ll trust and depend on a person of good values because they get proper advice and opinion from such a person.

Ethics Must Be Followed

A person with good values behaves ethically. We often hear of an ethical code of conduct. These are a set of rules or codes an individual is expected to follow. For example, talking politely with others, respecting elders/co-workers, handling difficult situations calmly, maintaining discipline and acting responsibly. Following these ethics helps create a healthy and safe work environment. So, it is essential for everyone to follow the ethical code of conduct.

The Role of Parents and Teachers

Moral values are not just born in a person but must be taught and inculcated right from childhood. When we talk about raising or nurturing children with good values, the credit goes to parents and teachers. It is their responsibility to teach children good values and should make them understand why it’s necessary to follow ethical behaviour. Schools should also take the responsibility to have a separate class dedicated to teaching ethics and moral values from the beginning. They should also train the students so that they imbibe these values.

An individual should imbibe good moral values to do well both in their professional and personal lives. A person with good values is also recognised among the crowd and is always appreciated for his behaviour and attitude towards others. On the contrary, people who lack good values often get into trouble and are not accepted in society. So, we should make sure that we teach our children good values and ethical behaviour from an early age. It is our responsibility to make our future generation learn moral values and ethics. This will help them become good human beings and upstanding citizens of the world. Additionally, it will give them the strength and courage to achieve great things in their lives.

The importance of moral values cannot be overstated. A nation with a high proportion of good values will undoubtedly progress and develop more rapidly than where people lack values. Moral values nurture us individually, build strong character and help create a better world around us.

We hope you found this essay on moral values useful. Find more CBSE Essays on various topics at BYJU’S. Also, get access to interactive videos and study material to ace the exams.

• Share Share

Register with BYJU'S & Download Free PDFs

Register with byju's & watch live videos.

Counselling

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

• Home ›
• Reviews ›

The Variety of Values: Essays on Morality, Meaning, and Love

Susan Wolf,  The Variety of Values: Essays on Morality, Meaning, and Love , Oxford University Press, 2015, 263pp., $45.00 (pbk), ISBN 9780195332810.

Reviewed by Sara Protasi, University of Puget Sound

Few essays evoke the same enthusiastic praise for their combination of rigorous reasoning, elegant writing style and influential thesis as Susan Wolf's "Moral Saints." [1] Its placement as the inaugural piece in this collection allows one to see that it is not only chronologically but also conceptually prior to Wolf's subsequent essays. It contains the seeds, in Wolf's own metaphor, from which sprouted an impressively cohesive collection of arguments concerning the forcefulness and inescapability of moral demands, and the significance and resilience of nonmoral values.

In the introduction, with a mixture of humility and pride, Wolf calls attention to the systematic nature of these thirteen articles (only one of which is previously unpublished), and details the connections among them. She highlights central, recurrent ideas and explains how the essays relate to the original themes of "Moral Saints," namely how there is more to value than morality, how moral considerations may be less forceful than moral philosophers have often portrayed them, and how different value reasons can pull us in opposite directions. The first part of the book, "Moral and Nonmoral Values," focuses on the nature and importance of nonmoral values, and their relation to moral ones. The connected topic of the structure and importance of morality is discussed in part 4, "The Concept of Duty." In the middle, part 2 ("Meaning in Life") explores the topic of meaningfulness, and part 3 discusses "Love".

Wolf devotes the final section of the introduction to the cover of the book, which features a still life by Willem Heda, the Dutch painter, depicting the remains of a luscious feast. Wolf tells us that she appreciates the Dutch Golden Age genre because of its rich textures, and one cannot help but think of the rich textures of her philosophical writing. Wolf explains that she is attracted by what she considers these paintings' characteristic "ambivalence and ambiguity" (8): in the Calvinist context where they were produced and sold, sensual pleasures and appreciation of material goods were condemned, and still lifes were allegories of transience, warnings against appreciating things that are doomed to decay. But the paintings themselves are magnificent objects, and their melancholic message is obfuscated, contradicted, and possibly nullified by the very means with which it is conveyed.

Wolf is here pointing to a tension that infuses all the essays, one way or the other: the tension between moral demands ("don't value material goods!") and the demands of beauty, of taste, and, in general, of nonmoral value. She constantly shows us how decent, well-rounded agents cannot, and should not, always wholeheartedly comply with their moral obligations, for two reasons. First, because nonmoral values are intrinsically important, and Wolf convincingly articulates this importance throughout the book, highlighting the shallowness of the dichotomy morality vs. self-interest that was characteristic of moral philosophy when "Moral Saints" was published. Second, because morality cannot keep its irreplaceable role of requiring us to take into account the needs and interests of others, if it is too demanding. When we conceive of morality as overriding every other practical consideration, people will not have "the freedom to live lives that they can find to be good and rewarding" (228) and will be less inclined to respect moral imperatives.

Notwithstanding her commitment to the plurality of values, however, Wolf ends up neglecting some crucial aspects of what is symbolized in her beloved Dutch Golden Age paintings: our embodied, emotional nature, our being subject to impulses and unendorsed habits, our being attuned to and appreciative of simple pleasures, such as the pleasures of the table that are the subject of Heda's still lifes.

To start with this last point: Wolf rarely talks in positive terms about the more mundane kinds of nonmoral values that occupy a central role in most people's lives. For instance, in "Good-for-Nothings" (ch. 5), she rejects a welfarist theory of value, arguing that there can be things that are good independently of the fact that they benefit us: "These things are not good because they benefit us; they benefit us because they are good" (76). Her examples of good things are: reading Middlemarch , watching The Wire , practicing the cello, training for a marathon, appreciating seventeenth century Dutch paintings, and more generally "good art, good philosophy, good science" (73). She explicitly contrasts these activities and pursuits with less valuable counterparts: reading The Da Vinci Code , watching Project Runway , and playing Angry Birds.

Wolf's examples of good things are well-chosen to resonate with her audience of professional philosophers in the Anglophone tradition, in its current demographic make-up. Extending Wolf's point to different cultural and socio-economic contexts seems relatively straightforward. For instance, we could talk of reading the Mahabharata , watching Taiwanese puppetry shows, practicing the djembe. However, this expansion would leave unaltered the most significant feature of Wolf's examples: they are all meant to be expressions of excellence . After saying that art, philosophy, and science are among the "things of immeasurable value" (76) with which the world is replete, and that "we may think of our lives as better, and more fortunate, insofar as we are able to be in appreciative touch with some of the most valuable of these" (76), Wolf goes on to say that "a good human life involves 'enjoyment of the excellent'" (77). But having immeasurable value is not the same as being excellent, and treating them as equivalent has two consequences.

First, it makes one more likely to overlook admittedly less complex sources of values, such as those stemming from appreciation of natural beauty, or from sensual activities such as eating, or having sex, the kind of transient but valuable experiences that were shunned by Dutch Calvinists.

Secondly, it risks restricting the chance of a "better, and more fortunate" life to those who are capable of experiencing excellence. Consider a cognitively disabled person. Her impairment prevents her from intellectual excellence: she cannot read Middlemarch , nor understand The Wire , and she could never distinguish a Rembrandt from a Kinkade. She does, however, watch Project Runway , she can read children books, and she really enjoys eating juicy apples and walking in the park. Her impairment also prevents her from moral excellence. While she may be naturally virtuous, in the Aristotelian sense, she cannot achieve practical wisdom, distinguish between hypothetical and categorical imperatives, or maximize utility. Finally, while she is affectionate to her family members, her loving behavior is often immature and self-centered, comparable to that of a toddler. But even though moral, intellectual, and "interpersonal" excellence are bound to be out of her reach, she is in appreciative touch with some things of immeasurable value, and I hesitate to think that her life is less good and less fortunate than mine.

Another context in which Wolf's view could be enriched by taking into consideration a greater variety of psychological profiles is her discussion of personal love. Love is the main topic of chapters 9, 10 and 11, but also comes up in other essays as an exemplary source of "values . . . that compete both motivationally and normatively with moral values" (5). In "The Importance of Love" (ch. 10), Wolf defines love as "caring, deeply and personally, for a person for her own sake" (191). It is an "orientation in the world" that "gives us reasons to live" (191).

Wolf's account is close to the commonsensical understanding of love, and similar to other influential philosophical accounts, such as Harry Frankfurt's. [2] But specific to her approach is how Wolf envisions the role of love's reasons in practical deliberation. In "Morality and Partiality" (ch. 3), for instance, Wolf defends a conception of morality that incorporates what she calls the Impartialist Insight -- "the claim that all persons are equally deserving of well-being and respect" (33) -- in a "moderate" way, so as to be compatible with the demands of partiality "without apology" (35). Her approach on the one hand acknowledges that friendship and love are valuable in themselves, independently of their contribution to morality, but on the other also embraces the possibility of a radical choice in favor of partiality, even at a grave moral cost: the choice of a woman to hide her criminal son from the police, causing an innocent to be imprisoned in his place. Wolf suggests that the woman's hesitation to act according to morality is not only understandable but "positively reasonable . . . . After all, if the meaning of one's life and one's very identity is bound with someone as deeply as a mother's life is characteristically tied to her son's, why should the dictates of impartial morality be regarded as decisive?" (41). She goes on to say that such a woman might be as worthy of admiration and respect as her counterpart who decides not to shelter her son.

While I am sympathetic with Wolf's picture, I worry that she relies on an all-too-rosy picture of motherhood and maternal love, thus implicitly moralizing love itself. To the extent that Wolf convinces us that partiality can reasonably trump impartiality, she succeeds in doing so by describing the mother as engaging in "tortured deliberations" (42), ready to sacrifice her own well-being for the sake of her son's: "Do to me what you like . . . . Judge me as you will. I will go to hell if I have to, but my son is more important to me than my moral salvation." (41). This mother is a selfless martyr. Some readers might in fact take issue with precisely this quasi-fanatical aspect: perhaps she should worry more about the innocent man who will go to jail in her son's place than about her own moral salvation. But even those who feel the pull of Wolf's example, and I am one of them, should bear in mind that there are darker and less valuable ways in which maternal and filial identity are tied up, than pure maternal altruism. Consider the case of a mother who is affected either by narcissistic or borderline personality disorder, or is just plain selfish. [3] Such mothers will be pained at the prospect of their child's going to jail because of the suffering it would cause to them . The shared sense of identity characterizing these relatively common relations is deeply problematic. To the extent that Wolf succeeds in showing that the mother's choice is respectable, or even admirable, she does so by relying not so much on the value of love itself, but on the value of a moralized picture of love.

Consider also Wolf's example in "'One Thought Too Many': Love, Morality, and the Ordering of Commitment" (ch. 9). The essay examines Bernard Williams' famous discussion of the man who rescues his wife instead of another drowning stranger, and who ought not, according to Williams, be motivated by the thought that she is his wife and it is permissible for him to favor her over a stranger. [4] Wolf reviews different interpretations and consequent responses to Williams' thesis, and concludes that the most common reaction is to agree with Williams that "the thought of moral permissibility would be one thought too many if it is understood to occur at the moment of action" (145, original emphases). This view, according to Wolf, is compatible with finding "nothing wrong with a person wondering, in a cool and reflective moment, under what conditions one may give preference to one's loved ones and under what conditions one may not" (146). But -- she argues -- there is in fact something wrong with the husband who reflects, in cold mind, about whether what he did was morally permissible: it is an unappealing personal ideal of a lover. In the essay she offers an alternative ideal, or rather "glimpses of a psychological profile that could be filled out so as to constitute an ideal" (161): a lover who would not constrain his actions to only those that are morally permissible, and who is unlikely to engage in moral deliberation, even hypothetically, over Williams' scenario. Wolf highlights that this is a personal and not a moral ideal, one she wishes she could realize and that she wishes for her children and friends.

Wolf claims to have sketched a psychological profile, but she does not pause to consider whether the husband depicted by Williams is a psychologically ordinary husband. Wolf is clearly sensitive to the constraints imposed on our moral ideals by nonmoral values. But there are also other constraints, imposed by our psychology.

I myself know that I fall short of being the kind of person that Wolf has in mind. I engage in the post-hoc reflections about what morality requires that Wolf deems as obtrusive, and the reason I do is that I sometimes need morality to nudge me to fulfill the demands of love. [5] Lovers are not always capable of putting their beloveds' interests before their own, for a variety of factors: weakness of the will, egoism, and, more relevant to Williams' scenario, primal instincts and emotions such as the hunger that made fathers fight with their sons over a piece of bread in concentration camps, [6] or the panic that makes a man flee in front of an avalanche instead of protecting his wife and children, [7] or, less dramatically, the sleep deprivation and exhaustion that causes petty fights between parents of a newborn.

One might respond on Wolf's behalf that she is explicit about the ideal nature of her lover, so that we should exclude those psychological facts that count as character flaws. But imagine a case in which our husband is a military rescuer. He has been trained to defeat his survival instinct, so there is no risk of him running for his life in front of an avalanche. However, he has also been trained to save perfect strangers. This is not only a deeply engrained habit, but also a part of his identity. When the avalanche approaches, his wife is at 50 meters from him, but another woman, older and less fit than his wife, is closer. It would be physically possible for him to run faster and save his wife. However, his training and professional identity kick in and he runs to save the stranger. Would a post-hoc reflection be inappropriate in this case? Could this person not be a desirable, even ideal love partner?

Wolf's decent human agents are very decent, but sometimes not quite human enough. Reflecting over less idealized profiles of lovers allows us to see also how the very boundaries between normative and axiological domains are sometimes, maybe often, blurry: in real life situations, it is often difficult to distinguish between different kinds of reasons and values. Whether or not a tired woman wakes her husband when the baby needs to be changed may be a complex deliberative act, and the final decision might be justified by a moral reason (he changed the baby earlier in the night, so it's only fair she lets him sleep), a loving one (he is sleeping so well, poor thing), both, or none (there was no time to think, she just instinctively rushed to the crib). Appreciating the variety of values means also appreciating the variety of value , its own internal miscellaneous messiness.

This remark is of course Wolfian in spirit, and I see it showcased by the essay where we find the most psychologically realistic, and thus highly flawed, examples of human agents: "Loving Attention: Lessons in Love from The Philadelphia Story " (ch. 10). Wolf uses the movie The Philadelphia Story as a case study for understanding Iris Murdoch's notion of loving attention as a moral virtue. Wolf's conclusion is that loving attention can be a moral virtue insofar as it is interpreted as "loving of the world" (177). This conclusion is reached through a detailed analysis of the movie and the loving styles of it characters. This method of inquiry, inherently attuned to the complexity of human psychology, not coincidentally leads Wolf to minimize the differences between the domains of value: personal love is argued to be fundamentally analogous to loving the world, including people who are evil and thus unworthy of love, and to love of the arts, and even, maybe, love of chocolate and basketball (cf. footnote 11, 179).

If I had to summarize the gist of my critical remarks in a slogan, it would be: "more chocolate and basketball, please". But I would not be in the position of making such remarks had it not been for Susan Wolf's ground-breaking articulation of the importance of not being saintly.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For their feedback on this review I thank Aaron Meskin and Shen-yi Liao, and especially Michael Della Rocca and Tyler Doggett for extensive discussions.  

[1] Journal of Philosophy 79(8): 419-439 (1982).

[2] It would have been interesting for Wolf to compare her view to Frankfurt's view in The Reasons of Love (Princeton University Press, 2006), especially given their opposite perspectives on the relation between love for others and self-love.

[3] Lydia Davis portrays such a mother in "Selfish" ( The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis , Penguin, 2011, 441-442). The story is chilling because the mother is not depicted as abnormal in a clinical sense, even though of course the distinction between a psychological pathology and a moral flaw may not always be easy to draw.

[4] Bernard Williams, Moral Luck , Cambridge University Press, 1981, 1-19. For simplicity throughout the paper I maintain the husband/wife language, which does not imply endorsing a conventional picture of romantic love, according to which lovers are heterosexual, married, etc.

[5] I do not mean to imply that Wolf is not aware of the existence of conflicts between one's self-interests and the interests of our beloved, as she explicitly talks about these conflicts (see, e.g., the conclusion of ch. 3, p. 46). What I argue here is that the existence of these conflicts should play a larger role in determining what ideals of love are obtainable, and thus desirable.

[6] As recounted by Primo Levi in If This is a Man , Abacus, 2013.

[7] This example is inspired by the movie Force Majeure .

Philosophy Essay

6 July 2023

last updated

In this philosophy essay example, the concept of morality in public life is one of the significant ways and means of adapting individuals in society, combining freedom and responsibility. Historically, the term “morality” means the primacy in the process of human socialization. It enters the inner world of the human. Also, the essence of morality is that people realize the need for their actions, which corresponds to a particular type of social behavior. These moral principles rely on personal beliefs and public opinion. On the other hand, in the era of globalization, moral values become universal because of the close interaction between the cultures, its features, and carriers. Basically, if the person does not follow the universal moral values, then this individual will be rejected by society. In this philosophy essay example, contemporary humanity has universal moral values because of the globalization and its consequences.

The Main Argument of Philosophy Essay on Morality

Firstly, the supporting argument in this philosophy essay example is the fact that universal morality is the internal limitation of the human in the actions during life because of rational thinking. For example, in the article “The Objectivity of Moral Values” by H. W. Wright, the philosopher explained the roots of human limitations. In particular, the universality of moral values means the development of society, considering the rational existence of all members of society (Wright 387). Basically, moral values have the purpose of limiting the people in their actions, providing a rational existence to everyone. Then, in the era of globalization, people do not have significant borders. In this philosophy essay, they must follow the universal principles of moral values. Moreover, the experience of humanity shows that the majority defines universal moral values because of rational thinking about life.

The Counterargument of the Philosophy Essay Example on Morality

On the other hand, since moral values depend on the actions and all people are unique beings, the counterargument in this philosophy essay example is the fact that there are no universal principles because of the changeable nature of humanity. For example, in the article “Moral Values” by John Leofric Stocks, the philosopher provides evidence that the term “universal” cannot define humanity. In particular, people have two classes of values, such as good and bad actions (Stocks 299). The nature of good actions depends on the situations that lead to positive results for the person. Also, bad actions are the opposite concept to positive results. In this philosophy essay, it is obvious that any person has the own vision of bad and good actions with its results. Thus, moral values cannot be universal. It is because of the features of the human understanding of good and bad actions.

Weaknesses of the Counterargument

However, the weak side of the counterargument in this philosophy essay is the fact that the concepts of good and bad actions become universal because of globalization. For instance, in the article “Moral Value as Irreducible, Objective, and Cognizable” by Raphael Demos, the philosopher considered the changes of the universality on the international level. In particular, people try to follow the universal principles of moral values because of the limitations of the world’s community (Demos 176). Such an attitude to moral values is correct by considering this philosophy essay example. All actions of people have certain consequences for them in any place in the world. Since the concepts of good and bad actions are different in communities, people begin to learn any features of others because of globalization. They cannot live in different places without learning new rules because of the rationalism of the peaceful existence of humanity.

Conclusion on Philosophy Essay Example

In this philosophy essay example, the contemporary world has universal moral values because of the changes in the era of globalization. My supporting argument is the fact that the universality lies in the roots of the rational thinking of humanity. On the other hand, my counterargument is the fact that everyone has the own meaning of good and bad actions. Basically, it is the background of the formation of moral values. However, the concept of globalization defines universal principles to all people in the world because of the rational existence of everyone. In this case, it is important to consider that, if the person follows the concepts of universal moral values, this individual can live in any place in the world in peace. Hence, this philosophy essay example provides valid highlights on the topic. Also, people should check the rhetorical analysis essay example to learn more about rhetorical devices .

Works Cited

Demos, Raphael. “Moral Value as Irreducible, Objective, and Cognizable.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research , vol. 6, no. 2, 1945, pp. 163–194, doi: 10.2307/2102881. Stocks, John Leofric. “Moral Values.” Philosophy , vol. 4, no. 15, 1929, pp. 299–313. Wright, H. W. “The Objectivity of Moral Values.” The Philosophical Review , vol. 32, no. 4, 1923, pp. 385–400, doi: 10.2307/2178815.

To Learn More, Read Relevant Articles

Scientific research paper, how to write essay better.