I do think there are universal values because moral values respond to impulses, tendencies and aspirations of the human being, so they are very necessary for the formation of the human being as a person. They are all those questions that lead man to defend and grow in his dignity as a person, because unfailingly, moral value will lead man to moral good, which, as we know, is what perfects, completes and improves it.
These will always perfect man as a man, good deeds, such as being living honestly, telling the truth and acting always thinking about others, can never contradict the path to perfection.
Meanwhile, the choice for moral values is an absolutely free and not imposed decision that each person has, that is, he will decide whether to opt for them or not, but without a doubt, the fact of choosing them will have the direct effect of doing so more humane and give you extra quality as a person.
Moral values like respect, tolerance, honesty, work, loyalty and responsibility, among others, will arise and will be instilled in each person, primarily, within the family, for which relations with the father, mother, brothers, grandparents, uncles and all those others involved in the family, must have the right quality, to be these correct transmitters of all those values that we mentioned above. On the other hand and in addition to the quality of the relationships, turns out to be indispensable to achieve an ideal transmission of certain values, the model and the example that these relatives teach and show the child, because this will absorb everything that they instill in him and also what he observes of these, his attitudes, modes, among others.
But if there are universal moral values, then why do people argue and disagree so much about what is good and what is bad? Well these depends on the people who teaches us these moral values, as I mentioned before, if your parents let you steal something from a store then you will grow up thinking it is normal to steal, but if your parents punish you when you take something from a store and teach you why it is wrong then you will learn your moral values.
If we learn something from one person and something else from a different person, how do we know which one to go off of?
I really like that you were taking about how moral values are different for each person and that if you grow up thinking one thing, like your parents letting you steal, that it will change how you value it. But, as your first statement is that there are universal moral values, and universal is referring to everyone, you could change your first assertion to saying that there are no “universal” moral values, but there are different moral values for each person, but we all get them the say way, and so you can say that universally, there are moral values.
like you said, if we steal things as a child then we would assume that it is morally correct to steal things. But, in school we are taught that stealing is bad. Which one would we take as correct?
I like your perspective, and as you say we learn from others and around us, but what happens to people who believe that stealing is good because they need it, but in school or from other people you learn that stealing is bad. How does that person will know that it is good or bad?
“respect, tolerance, honesty, work, loyalty and responsibility, among others, will arise and will be instilled in each person”. Toleance, what about racist people? They do not respect towards a group of people. That is violating your moral value.