We all have moral values but saying some values can apply to the whole universe would be wrong. Moral values are always changing during the time, as an example a century ago it was alright to kill a person who committed a crime as he is counted as a brutal person with no right to live, nowadays it would consider as inhumane and that everything and everyone deserves a chance to live. Everyone would agree that murder is bad, (first of all, because you can end up in jail), but in another case, we think that soldiers who participate in war and were killing people are heroes. There is no particular answer to this question (as always in TOK), but my opinion would be that there are moral values that the majority of people follow ( don’t steal, don’t kill, etc. ), but we can’t call them universal as it doesn’t apply to everyone on this planet. Moral values always change and it only up to people if they follow it, or create their values.
7 thoughts on “Are there universal moral values?”
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I agree that moral values change with time, but is it fair to say that some don’t stay the same?
I agree with your opinions, I would also like to give credit to your example of soldiers killing in war as opposing Mr. MacKnight’s Zuni statements. Soldiers in war fully acknowledge the fact that they are killing fellow humans and do not have the moral value in that situation that murder is wrong. The Zuni example of them not viewing other non-Zunis as humans is simply switching concepts.
If someone is breaking the moral value, it doesn’t mean that there is no moral value. There two situation on the war. First, when soldier is being propagandised, so he switches the concepts and 2nd, when someone who breaks those moral values in order to achieve his goal (win a war, save his family, save friends-soldiers and etc), but he still understands that killing is bad, it is just that he has no other choice, but to kill.
I agree, but the question was just to decide on the fact of Universal Moral Values. Of course we can make up something, but it will never be both universal and useful. Only looking in details will bring us to a solution and if we try to make up something universal we end up with meaning less law/rule/value.
I agree with you that moral values change over time and we need to consider the different circumstances when we discuss about one particular moral value.
I agree with what you wrote, I don’t think that universal moral values exist, if they do it is not universal. I liked your blog post it is very well explained. great job.
People always were changing opinions over the time and morale valuers as well, but universal don’t change. We try to use universal moral values in specific scenarios or situations, universal moral values won’t work because you trying to use them in specific situation, and specific situations are not universal ones.