You've probably heard them say about someone: “He violated moral standards.” What are moral standards and why is their violation condemned?

The emergence of moral norms. Moral standards determine how a person should behave in relation to society, other people, and himself. They did not arise immediately, but were formed throughout the history of the development of human society.

Primitive man could not survive alone. The need for collective existence at that time required the implementation of certain rules life together. It was then that the instructions took shape: “Help your relatives,” “Don’t kill,” “Don’t steal,” “Don’t lie,” etc. Labor played a decisive role in this process, on the basis of which the demands of hard work, respect for elders, help and protection of the weak, etc. appeared and were consolidated in the minds and behavior of people. In the process of development of society, increasingly complex rules for the life of people together were established and consolidated, which turned into into habit and passed on from generation to generation.

The emergence of moral norms accompanied the formation of society itself and meant the transition of man from instinctive forms of behavior to conscious collective activity. Many elementary moral norms that arose in the era of the primitive communal system retain their significance today.

The importance of moral standards for society and individuals. Today we cannot imagine life in a society without generally accepted moral standards. Morality was initially addressed to each individual and regulated the relationship “person - person”, “person - collective”, “person - society”. In the process of development of society, increasingly complex rules of joint life were established and consolidated, which turned into norms and were passed on from generation to generation. At the same time, there was a process of denial of those norms and attitudes that no longer corresponded to the new conditions of social life.

Moral standards are inherent only to humans and are formed only in human society. But it is moral norms and attitudes that regulate human behavior and the development of society and are the most important components of culture. And here we must remember that for successful action, moral norms must be deeply assimilated by a person, “enter his soul,” become part of inner world. A person is moral only when moral standards and moral behavior become organic to him and help him behave correctly in a wide variety of situations. And society can develop successfully when its members have moral standards that correspond to the moral ideals of a given era.

The relationship of moral norms, qualities, principles, ideals. Moral standards are the simplest form moral requirements. They require or prohibit a certain type of behavior. Moral norms directly affect all aspects of human relationships, instructing people to show mutual care, respect, and support; be modest, truthful, sincere; develop diligence, tact, and courage. Following moral standards characterizes such human qualities as politeness, decency, and honesty. Do not offend the weak, do not humiliate, do not insult a person, do not disturb others in in public places– all these are simple norms of human behavior that are formed in a person from the first years of life. The norm determines the behavior of an individual in some typical situations that have been repeated for thousands of years. We usually follow norms out of habit, without thinking; Only violation of the norm attracts people's attention as a blatant disgrace.

The effectiveness of moral norms that force a person to act in a certain way is achieved with the help of public opinion : after all, it is unpleasant for everyone to be branded as an impolite, rude, tactless person, or to experience the condemnation or ridicule of others. Public opinion, forming certain standards of behavior, serves as a guarantor of the safety of every person, protection from moral tyranny on the part of other people.

Each person, developing as a person, acquires certain moral qualities. These qualities reflect the polarity of the moral world and are divided into good ( virtues ) and bad ( vices ). Even the ancient Greek sages identified four basic human virtues: wisdom, courage, moderation and justice. When assessing a person, we most often list these qualities. However, unlike norms, moral qualities are not reduced to prescriptions or prohibitions on certain actions, since those who have moral qualities a person is able to choose the necessary rules of behavior and moral standards. This means that each person is responsible for cultivating virtues in himself and those around him and rejecting vices.

But a person is usually not an ideal of morality or a living embodiment of all perfections. It also has shortcomings, and one, albeit important, virtue cannot atone for moral shortcomings. It is not enough to have individual positive traits - they must complement each other, forming a common line of behavior. Usually a person determines it for himself, developing some of his own moral principles : collectivism or individualism, hard work or laziness, altruism or selfishness.

moral principle denotes a person’s strategic attitude in his relationships with people. When we choose principles, we choose a moral orientation as a whole and are able to rationally justify it.

Loyalty to a chosen positive moral orientation has long been considered a human dignity. It meant that a person in any life situation would not stray from the moral path. However, life is diverse, and the chosen principles do not always help make the right decision in a particular situation. Thus, in the past it happened that love for people was sacrificed to revolutionary principles, and even today, falsely understood comradeship sometimes pushes people to immoral and unspiritual actions. That is why one must constantly check one’s principles for humanity, compare them with moral ideals.

Moral ideal - This is a holistic example of moral behavior that people strive for, considering it the most reasonable, useful, and beautiful. This is all the best that has been developed by morality at this stage its development. In childhood, our ideal may be a specific person. Subsequently, the ideal as a unity of positive qualities usually acquires a more generalized character. A moral ideal allows you to evaluate the behavior of other people and is a guideline for self-improvement; allows everyone to navigate life and choose a line of behavior.

Thus, moral norms, qualities, principles, ideals do not act independently, independently of each other, but represent the main elements of the moral system. All of them are closely interconnected and interdependent.

Some conclusions:

1.Moral standards are general rules behavior. They have been formed and changed throughout the history of the development of human society. One such norm is known as the “Golden Rule of Morality.”

2. People are encouraged to act in accordance with moral standards not only by public opinion, but also by the inner voice of conscience.

3. Moral norms, qualities, principles, ideals, acting together, constitute the moral system of a given society.

4. Guided by moral norms, principles, and ideals, a person regulates his behavior and improves himself, and society as a whole can successfully move along the path of moral progress.

Questions and tasks:

1. What is meant by moral standards? What is the significance of moral standards for individuals and for society?

2. Are there any moral standards that you personally do not like? What would happen if they could be canceled?

3. In your opinion, is public opinion about a person’s morality always fair? Why do we follow it?

4. Often I want to answer all the teachings: “I don’t owe anyone anything.” Is it so?

5. Why do we need to follow moral rules? Why do we sometimes want to avoid it?

6. Do you have a moral ideal? What do you understand by moral ideal?

7. A person with strong moral principles, a principled person - is this good or bad? Why?

Ethics. Question No. 8.

Conscience is one of the oldest intimate and personal regulators of human behavior. Conscience is understood as a special moral and psychological mechanism with the help of which we evaluate our actions and thoughts, realize and experience their inconsistency with the requirements of duty.

As a category of ethics, conscience characterizes a person’s ability to exercise moral self-control, internal self-esteem from the standpoint of compliance of his behavior with moral requirements, independently formulate moral tasks for himself and demand that he fulfill them.

A lawyer, conducting proceedings in a case or performing other functions, acts in an area that affects the vital benefits of people, faces many conflicts, and faces the need to make responsible decisions, often in difficult moral situations. And only workers with a developed sense of conscience, capable of correctly, self-critically and principledly judging their motives and actions, can effectively fulfill their high mission and maintain the prestige of their profession and personality.

Conscience includes:

– internal(rational and emotional) assessment of the moral worth of one's intentions and actions taking into account the moral norms and ideals of a given person internalized by the individual, acting as his internal “law” and “judge”;

– a sense of personal moral responsibility for one’s behavior before people, society and oneself.

Forms of manifestation of conscience can be : moral satisfaction, doubt, indecision, remorse, repentance, confession and, as a result, shame. Shyness, shyness, internally associated with sacrifice and compassion, the ability to forget oneself for the sake of a high goal are characteristic features of Russian culture.

Question number 9.

Honor and dignity are a form of moral self-awareness. They tell us about the special value of the human person. The concepts of honor and dignity develop in the history of culture in unity and parallel to each other.

As a category of ethicshonor means the moral attitude of a person to himself and the attitude towards him on the part of society, those around him, when the moral value of a person is associated with the moral merits of a person.

Honor is an assessment of a person from the point of view of the norms of a social group. Therefore, there are such concepts as the honor of an officer, the honor of a judge, the honor of a scientist, doctor, entrepreneur, etc. A sense of honor encourages you to do certain things in order to achieve primacy, a high appreciation of your activities precisely within the social group to which a person belongs. The concept of honor is associated with mandatory requirements for members of this community, strict standards of behavior, which are called the “code of honor”.

If the concept of honor is associated with the desire to achieve high marks from others, then dignity denotes a combination of high moral qualities, as well as respect for these qualities in oneself and in others, colleagues. It obliges to perform moral deeds, to conform one's behavior to the requirements of morality.

Concept personal dignity is based on the principle of equality of all people in moral terms, is based on the equal right of each person to respect, the prohibition to humiliate his dignity, regardless of what social position he occupies.

Dignity acts as an element of moral culture, having, however, moral and legal nature. On the one hand, dignity is a moral value and, as a result, is most directly related to morality. At the same time, dignity is also related to law, since the protection of dignity is carried out on the basis of legal acts specially developed and fixed in the legislation.

There is a right to honor and dignity; the right to have your own opinion and express it without fear of persecution; the right to free thought; the right to dissent; the right to opposition; the right to national dignity; the right to know everything about the life of your state without ridiculous censorship restrictions; the right to the need for human cultural life; the right to protect one’s human and civil rights –

In the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, adopted October 21, 1994 , to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the judicial decision, a special article 152“Protection of honor, dignity and business reputation.”

Moral norms are similar to legal norms in that both play the role of the main mechanism by which human behavior is regulated. represent unwritten laws that have developed over centuries. In law, laws are legally enshrined.

Moral culture

Moral norms and values ​​are the practical embodiment of morality. Their peculiarity lies in the fact that they determine consciousness and characteristics in all spheres of life: everyday life, family, professional activity, interpersonal relationships.

Moral standards are a set of rules defining human behavior, the violation of which causes harm to society or a group of people. They are formulated in the form of a specific set of actions. For example:

• you need to give way to those who are older;
• say hello when meeting another person;
• be generous and protect those who are weaker;
• arrive on time;
• speak culturally and politely;
• wear this or that clothes, etc.

The foundation for building a healthy personality

Spiritual and moral norms and values ​​constitute the image of a person who is perfect in the sense of conforming to the pattern of piety. This is the portrait you should strive for. This is how they express ultimate goals one or another action. An image such as Jesus in Christianity is used as an ideal. He tried to lay justice in human hearts, he was a great martyr.

Moral rules and norms play the role of personal for a particular person. Personality sets its own own goals, in which its positive or negative side is manifested. Most people strive for happiness, freedom, and knowledge of the meaning of life. Moral standards help them regulate their moral behavior, thoughts and feelings.

Morality functions in society as a combination of three structural elements, each of which represents one aspect of morality. These elements are moral activity, moral attitudes and moral consciousness.

Morality past and present

These phenomena began to appear quite a long time ago. Each generation and community of people formed their own understanding of good and evil, their own ways of interpreting moral norms.

If we turn to it, we will see that there the moral character was considered as an unchangeable phenomenon, actually accepted in conditions of absence. A person of that time could not choose between accepting and not accepting the prevailing trends; he had to unconditionally follow them.

Nowadays, in contrast to legal norms, moral norms are more considered as recommendations for achieving happiness for oneself and the surrounding society. If earlier morality was defined as something given from above, prescribed by the gods themselves, today it is something similar to an unspoken social contract that is desirable to follow. But if you disobey, in fact, you can only be condemned, but not held to real responsibility.

You can accept moral laws (for your own good, because they are useful fertilizer for the sprout of a happy soul), or reject them, but this will remain on your conscience. In any case, the entire society revolves around moral standards, and without them its functioning would be incomplete.

Diversity of moral standards

All moral norms and principles can be divided into two groups: requirements and permissions. Requirements include obligations and natural duties. Permissions can also be divided into indifferent and supererogatory.

There is social morality, which implies the most unified framework. There is an unspoken set of rules that operates in a particular country, company, organization or family. There are also attitudes according to which an individual person builds his line of behavior.

In order to understand moral culture not only in theory, but also in practice, you need to do the right things that others will accept and approve of.

Perhaps the importance of morality is exaggerated?

It may seem that following moral standards shackles a person into narrow boundaries. However, we do not consider ourselves prisoners when using the instructions for this or that radio device. Moral norms are the same scheme that helps us build our lives correctly, without coming into conflict with our conscience.

Moral norms for the most part coincide with legal norms. But there are situations when morality and law come into conflict. Let us examine this issue using the example of the “thou shalt not steal” norm. Let's try to ask the question “Why does this or that person never steal?” In the case where the basis is fear of judgment, the motive cannot be called moral. But if a person does not steal, based on the belief that theft is bad, then the act is based on moral values. But in life it happens that someone considers something to be theirs that, from a legal point of view, is a violation of the law (for example, a person decides to steal medicine in order to save the life of a loved one).

The Importance of Moral Education

You should not expect that the moral environment will develop on its own. It also needs to be built, learned, that is, worked on oneself. It’s just that, along with mathematics and the Russian language, schoolchildren do not study the laws of morality. And, getting into society, people can sometimes feel as helpless and defenseless as if they went to the blackboard in the 1st grade and were forced to solve an equation that they had never seen before.

So all the words that good behavior fetters, enslaves and makes a slave out of a person are true only if moral standards are perverted and adjusted to the material interests of one or another group of people.

Social hunger strike

Nowadays, the search for the right path in life worries a person much less than social discomfort. Parents care more about the child becoming a good specialist than a happy person in the future. It becomes more important to enter into a successful marriage than to know true love. Giving birth to a child is more important than realizing the true need for motherhood.

Moral demands for the most part appeal not to external expediency (if you do this, then you will succeed), but to moral duty (you need to act in a certain way, since this is dictated by duty), thus having the form of an imperative, considered as direct and unconditional command.

Moral norms and human behavior are closely interrelated. However, when thinking about moral laws, a person should not identify them with regulations, but fulfill them, guided by his own desire.

The unity of the ethical and aesthetic aspects of business etiquette

The rules of etiquette, clothed in specific forms of behavior, indicate the unity of its two sides: moral, ethical and aesthetic. The first side is an expression of a moral norm: precautionary care, respect, protection, etc.

The second side - aesthetic - testifies to the beauty and grace of forms of behavior.

For example, to greet, use not only the verbal (speech) means “Hello!”, “Good afternoon,” but also non-verbal gestures: bow, nod, wave of the hand, etc. You can indifferently say “Hello,” nod your head and walk past . But it’s better to do it differently - say, for example, “Hello, Ivan Alexandrovich!”, smile warmly at him and stop for a few seconds. Such a greeting emphasizes your good feelings for this person; he will understand that you value him, and the sound of his own name is a pleasant melody for any person.

Business etiquette as a set of moral norms and rules of conduct in business communication. Basic rules of business etiquette

Just being polite and friendly is not enough. IN business etiquette general principles acquire a specific coloring, which is expressed in the following basic rules:

• - First rule business communication- be punctual in everything. Lateness of any employee interferes with work, in addition, they indicate that such a person cannot be relied upon;
• - Second rule business ethics communication - do not say too much. Any employee is obliged to keep the secrets of his organization, this rule applies to all affairs of a company or institution: from personnel to technology. The same applies to conversations between co-workers about their personal lives;
• - The third rule of ethics in business is to think not only about yourself, but also about others. It is impossible to conduct business successfully without taking into account the opinions and interests of partners, customers, buyers. Often the reasons for failure in business are the manifestation of selfishness, the desire to harm competitors, even colleagues, in order to advance within the framework of own enterprise. Strive to always patiently listen to the interlocutor, learn to respect the opinion of others and understand it, get rid of intolerance for dissent;
• - The fourth rule of business ethics is to dress appropriately. The main thing is to dress appropriately for your environment in the service, without standing out from the contingent of workers at your level. Your clothes should show your taste;
• - The fifth rule is the ethics of business communication - speak and write in good language. Everything you say and write must be presented correctly. Your chances of concluding a particular contract often depend on your ability to communicate. A business person, in order to succeed, must also master the art of rhetoric, that is, the skill of eloquence.

Morality — is a set of norms, rules, principles, principles resulting from a person’s inner conviction or influence of the power of public opinion on him.

Moral culture is a "cut" of culture as a whole, all aspects and manifestations. It can be defined as the level of humanity, humanity in human relations achieved by society and individuals. Morality is based on the authority of public opinion and the moral convictions of the individual. Moral or moral consciousness includes moral standards and moral principles.

Moral norms are the rules for the behavior of people in a particular different life situations .

The purpose of moral standards is to enable people to determine the degree to which their actions conform to socially recognized ideas of good and evil, justice and injustice. These norms arise spontaneously, exist, as a rule, in oral form, reflected in the minds of people. Morality is formed and maintained by society itself, corresponds to the level of its development, to those social ideas that have developed historically and prevail in society. Moral norms are fulfilled only by those people for whom the rules contained in them are authoritative. So, the process of implementing these norms depends on the level of awareness, development and education of a particular person.

Moral principles are broader concepts, but have a universal human character and are usually formed as mottos, commandments, codes, according to which you need to behave not only in a specific life situation, but also in generous system of social relations. These include provisions such as “do not steal”, “do not lie”, “respect your neighbor”, “honor your father”, etc.

The moral culture of a person is embodied in the relationship of a person with other people, and the moral culture of a society is determined by the number of cultivated individuals.

Main moral concepts are:

• good Andevil: opposite but interrelated qualities. Good - positive, creative, harmonious quality of personality; evil - aggressive, selfish, destructive state of personality. a kind person- means good, evil - means bad. Basic concepts of morality also include:
• duty — the need to obey a more significant will than one's own when fulfilling moral obligations;
• conscience - an internal prosecutor, "the own court of a just person", in other words, the correlation of a person's actions with generally recognized norms of morality;
• humanism - recognition of a person as the highest value. The main feature of humanism is expressed in the so-called "zolot of moral rules", which is formulated as follows: treat others the way you would like to be treatedcome to you. Or as the Bible says, “love your neighbor,as yourself".

Morality is the basis of love, marriage and family. The relationships of people in society are regulated not only by moral norms, but also right .

Unity and differences of law and morality

There is unity and interconnection between morality and law:

• morality and law perform a regulatory function in society, that is, they are aimed at human social connections;
• morality and law have similar structures, standards and principles;
• morality and law must correspond to each other and affirm the principles of goodness and justice in society;
• morality and law should not oppose each other.

At the same time, there are differences between morality and law:

• rules of law- is the sum of laws, regulations, regulations sanctioned by the state;
• moral standards- “sanctioned” only by public opinion , that is, they are formed in the process of direct communication between people;
• rules of law always specific and unambiguous in interpretation (for example, “Criminal Code”);
• moral standards allow different interpretation and perception depending on the ethnic, religious and other characteristics of society;
• rules of law form rules of behavior in the form of rights and responsibilities;
• moral standards exist not only in the form of rights and obligations, but also in the form general principles, goals, slogans, etc.;
• rules of law provided by state coercion;
• moral standards provided by habit, inner conviction, moral, public influence and other non-state methods.

Significant differences between law and morality allow society and the state to flexibly use the most appropriate means for a particular situation in the process of regulating social relations. For example, the obligation to give way to elders in public transport is moral in nature, and the obligation to pay for travel is legal.

So, morality and law have a common purpose in the process of regulating social relations and different impacts and significance in ensuring the systematicity of society.

Law in the system of social norms

Law is a system of generally binding, formally defined rules of behavior, established or sanctioned by the state and protected by the power of the state, which regulate the most important social relations.

Right call the social and legal claims of people: the right to life, the right to freedom, the right to work and education, etc. These are the so-called natural human rights century . Law, reflecting the moral principles of society, contributes to the legitimation of certain moral principles and the gradual narrowing of the scope of those that have lost their relevance.

The signs of law are:

• Expression of the general will. According to G. Hobbes, law is the product of the will of those who have power over others. For K. Marx, “Right is the will of the ruler elevated to lawclass",
• Regulatory regulation of public relations, that is, law prescribes to a person: “act this way and not otherwise.” The rules of law are universal and binding. (“The law is harsh, but it is the law”).
• Determination of the measure of freedom of human behavior. This means that law expresses the measure of accessibility, the reality of individual rights and freedoms and the measure of admissibility of restrictions on freedom. The principle of freedom was formulated in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen: “freedom consists in the ability to do everything that does not harm another.”
• The cornerstone of law is that it mustachedirected, sanctioned and supported by the stategift. Within a separate state, it acts as state will. In real life, this means that the state ensures the implementation of recognized and valid legal norms, since there are no other ways to elevate the general will of citizens into law.

The functions of law in society are as follows:

• bind members of society with legal ties in the form of legal relations;
• coordinate the various interests of people, communities, organizations;
• consolidate the economic foundations of human activity (property rights);
• regulate through laws positive rules of behavior in order to consolidate and develop social relations;
• protect generally significant public and personal relations of citizens (with the help of prohibitions, sanctions and legal liability).

Law as the embodiment of social justice

Purpose of law - implementation of one of the highest moral values ​​of universal significance - justice.

The purpose of law as the embodiment of social justice is manifested in the fact that:

• law is based on the principles of humanism and justice;
• the rights and obligations of subjects are in a relationship of fair reciprocity;
• the process of developing law itself is characterized by ensuring fair institutions of democracy;
• the law ensures the equality of subjects in the process of realizing and protecting their rights, as well as establishing their responsibilities;
• law balances social interests different groups, existing at the level of society;
• the law establishes the most appropriate and fair means, forms and types of responsibility aimed at restoring violated rights, as well as the interests of society;
• Performing a humanistic function, law provides the opportunity to implement in the specific behavior of people those principles of justice that most fully correspond to the level of development of society and the state.

So, by providing equal opportunities to subjects of law, imposing equal duties and establishing equal responsibility, law acts as a means of ensuring justice in real social practice.

The concept of political and legal culture

The view of the state and law as a historical achievement of civilization, their assessment from the standpoint of humanism and justice, has led to the active use in legal science of two interrelated concepts - “political culture” and “legal culture”.

Comes from the Latin word “cultura”, which is translated as “cultivation of the land”, “education”, “development”, etc. Today it mainly denotes a system of material and spiritual values ​​​​created by humanity, a kind of historical experience that is transmitted from generation to generation and accordingly influences people's behavior. The social purpose of law is detailed in legal culture.

Political culture is defined as historical experience, memory social groups and individuals in the political sphere that influence their political behavior.

This experience in a generalized form contains achievements both in the field international relations, and in the field domestic policy. On the one hand, political culture is part of the entire culture of society, on the other hand, it is associated with a specific political system.

Political culture can be characterized as the qualitative state of the political life of a society and the degree of maturity of the political system of a society.

At the same time, political culture reflects not only objective political institutions, but also political views, ideas, perceptions, and feelings that characterize the attitude of the bearers of political culture to political life.

Legal culture, by analogy with the previous concept, can also be defined as historical experience influencing the behavior of social groups and individuals, but in the field of law.

Sometimes legal culture is understood somewhat simplistically - as a category indicating the level of understanding, recognition and conscious implementation of legal regulations. Based on this, legal culture is divided into:

• public, inherent in society;
• group, characteristic of some social group;
• individual characteristic of an individual.

A certain level of legal culture is achieved with the help of objective and subjective factors. Objective ones are the conditions for the development of society, and subjective ones are legal education .

Main tasks of legal education

Legal education is the activity of legal and individuals, purposefully influencing the legal consciousness and legal behavior of citizens.

The task of legal education is to ensure that, on the basis of common legal educational goals, each person has formed:

• correct legal orientation and respectful attitude to laws;
• conscious choice of legitimate behavior options;
• respectful attitude towards law enforcement agencies;
• a sense of personal responsibility and awareness of the inevitability of punishment for an offense;
• critical attitude towards violations and violators of the law;
• the need for personal participation in the fight against crime;
• confidence in the need for legal norms for the normal functioning of society and its members;
• conscious habit of obeying the law.

Thus, legal education should influence the mind and feelings of a person, suggest to him the ways of correct behavior in a given life situation. Legal education directs the behavior and actions of people within the framework of the requirements of legality. That is why, along with the formation of legal consciousness, raising the level of legal culture of young people, legal education works for such an important social function, as a prevention of violations.

References:

1. Afonin V. A., Afonin Yu. V. Theory and history of culture. Tutorial for independent work of students. – Lugansk: Elton-2, 2008. – 296 p.

2. Fundamentals of legal studies: Prob. handicraft for 9th grade. avg. zagalnosvit. school / For ed. I. B. Usenka. - Kiev: Irpin: VTF "Perun", 1997. - 448 pp.: ill. — Ross. my own

3. Fundamentals of jurisprudence. 50 lesson notes according to the program of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. 9th grade. - Donetsk: Center for the Training of Applicants, 2003. - 328 p.