- Essays
- 9th grade OGE
- What is Morality
Morality should be understood as a certain symbiosis of norms, principles, ideas about life, human actions and the degrees of what is permitted, which is accepted publicly or secretly in a particular society.
This concept is also closely connected with good and evil, or more precisely with the understanding of these two terms and the establishment of what is good and what is bad in this world. Moreover, the concepts of “good” and “bad” are quite subjective - what may be unacceptable for one person is quite normal for another, therefore, everyone forms for himself a system of values and views, called moral norms, which guides him throughout his life. life.
The scope of what is permitted can be quite wide; the only critic here is the conscience of a particular person, or rather, how often it wakes up. Some can commit rather immoral acts without experiencing a drop of regret, sympathy or pity, and some, having committed one immoral act, are then tormented by remorse for many days and even months.
Features of morality have several functions, in particular regulatory, controlling, educational, integrating and evaluative.
On the one hand, the concept of morality differs depending on the ideas of an individual, but there are still certain boundaries established by the customs and legal norms of the state. So, morality, one way or another, limits a person’s freedom in his actions, many of which can be considered unlawful and punishable by law.
By the way, morality and its norms penetrate into all spheres of human life and activity. This is something we face every day and hour, sometimes without even thinking about it. The reason is also that by parents and upbringing, certain concepts regarding this issue are already embedded in everyone, but it happens that with age one can become an even more moral person, and the other, on the contrary, feel relative freedom and take several steps in the opposite direction.
By the way, moral norms sometimes bring both benefit and harm, since many of society’s beliefs are biased in relation to certain issues, they can be exaggerated and brought to the point of absurdity. So, of course, you need to be a moral person, but you shouldn’t maniacally track your every action, because it’s a waste of time.
Reasoning 2
Morality must be understood as a combination of principles, ideas about life, human actions and the degree of their appropriateness. Try to take into account society’s assessment and its reaction to a specific act.
The concept is also associated with positive and negative assessments, or more precisely with understanding and recording what is happening in the world. Moreover, these concepts are subjective; what is not suspicious for one person is good for other people. As a result, everyone develops a system for evaluating the world around them, called moral values, which they use throughout their lives.
The scope of suspicion will be significant, but the only criticism here is considered to be the conscience of an individual person, or rather its frequent awakening. Some may commit one bad act but feel no regret, while others will do one immoral act and regret it for months.
Basic moral norms have specific functions. Regulatory, controlling, educational, integrating, evaluative and other interesting qualities are noted.
On the one hand, the definition of morality is distinguished by the dependence of a particular person, but there are boundaries established and fixed by simple norms in the state. Morality sets limits on human actions, since many are marked by unpredictability and are punishable by law.
Do not forget morality, and its norms penetrate into all areas and spheres of human life. A person encounters this phenomenon every day, without even thinking about it. The reason lies in the parents and educators, since they lay down the concepts on this issue, but one can become a moral person, and the other will feel complete freedom of action and go in the other direction.
Different moral standards help society develop, since different beliefs of society are considered biased towards issues, they can be changed and brought to the point of absurdity. A person can be a moral person, but there is no need to constantly analyze his actions.
I sincerely recommend using this information to write an essay: “What is morality?” To understand all the nuances of such an essay and evaluate moral qualities.
Moral assessment
Moral evaluation is the act of justifying and identifying the moral value of certain actions or intentions that determine conscious human activity. Moral evaluation consists of expressing an opinion that expresses approval or disapproval of the actions of other people.
Moral assessment plays an important role in the sphere of moral relations, since it plays the role of moral sanction. It can create social significance and give value to certain phenomena in society, and vice versa - deprive them of weight and make them ineffective.
Essay on the topic Morality (3rd option)
Human life is a complex and diverse phenomenon. We interact with other people through communication. Meanwhile, all people are different, with their own interests and needs, which do not always coincide. Therefore, a person makes a choice in accordance with morality.
To streamline behavior, coordinate actions - society has a certain desire for this. Morality is a system of ideas about norms, a social assessment of people's behavior. In other words, morality is the unwritten laws of human society.
But like society, morality can change. The laws of public morality were not always humane.
Let's take slavery as an example and look into history. Owning slaves, forcing them to work, disposing of their lives as you wish, a couple of centuries ago was normal, something ordinary, something that people accepted as the order of things.
Today, those moral principles towards people of different skin color are unacceptable. If someone suddenly tries to belittle a person by singling him out based on the color of his skin, society will react sharply and the assessment of such behavior will be extremely negative.
Following history, one can trace an important positive change in moral principles, because now a huge number of people have acquired rights like the rest. They stopped being afraid, oppressed, and became a little happier. People began to strive to help each other.
The content of the Bible and the Koran is also moral, although they were created a very, very long time ago, a huge number of people still correlate their actions with these books.
I believe that as society is, so is its justifiable morality. It turns out that society educates its citizens on the morality that is acceptable in it. However, over time, a person changes his morality himself. Because, in addition to public morality, a person in perception has his own morality. They lie in the attitude towards the closest people, towards the world around us. If a person justifies stealing, then his morality changed when he crossed the line for the first time. If he could not resist himself, or he was pushed to do so, everything will be assessed by society, in this case, law and order.
Public morality can motivate actions. For example, if all the seats on the bus are occupied and an old woman gets on at the stop and has to stand. Most will not be able to sit quietly, but not everyone will give up their seat. But because of public morality, some passenger will do it; some will be outraged by the situation, others will shame the younger generation. A pattern of attitudes and behavior that helps regulate the interaction of people in society is morality.
Therefore, I think that there is no need to shout about high principles, they need to be defended in word and deed. If each of us begins to put positive intentions into moral principles, society will sooner or later adopt them.
The role of morality in human life
Morality has a significant influence on the development of all spheres of public life. This is due to the fact that a person is able to subject any aspect of social life to moral assessment. Therefore, morality has weight in the political, religious, economic, spiritual and scientific fields of modern society.
There are certain rules and norms of behavior that oblige people to behave in a certain way, depending on the situation. This is objectively dictated by the need to coexist in a team and lead a life together with other people. Therefore, morality has a significant impact on the lives of people from different countries, professions and hobbies.
In society, morality operates on the basis of three elements - moral activity, moral consciousness and moral relations. A feature of morality in society is that its consciousness expresses a certain pattern or algorithm of human behavior.
Society recognizes a certain stereotype of behavior as correct and most optimal at a given stage of time. Therefore, morality is spoken of as a kind of collective will of people who constitute society.
The created systems of rules, requirements and assessments are aimed at harmonizing all individuals in society and ensuring their peaceful coexistence.
Why is morality needed in society?
How harmoniously people can coexist in a separate society is determined by moral standards. They are not universal and change under the influence of facts of history, geography, traditions and ethnicity. Over time, the answers to questions like “what is morality for” began to differ radically. In the Middle Ages, the modern consumerist attitude to life and the desire to get rich would have been condemned. Nowadays, it is accepted that the more wealthy people in society, the better.
Morality gives rise to qualitative relationships, defining the boundaries between good and evil, bad or good actions. In general, the personal “ego” is formed from the rules that determine our entire existence, our approach to what happens around us. Therefore, the questions - why morality is needed in human life or why moral rules are needed will be relevant as long as humanity itself exists.
Principles of morality
The principles of morality are the starting point on the basis of which all ethics, all moral behavior of a person (humanity, justice, kindness, tolerance, etc.) are built.
There are principles of morality in addition to certain moral standards, such as “don’t steal” or “be merciful.” They are special in that they define more general formulas from which all other specific moral laws can be derived. They represent ideological attitudes that, on the basis of moral experience, consolidate the moral role of humanity, the so-called virtue. High moral principles develop as a result of family upbringing and in the learning process. Together they lead to the understanding and perception of such character traits as humanity, justice and rationality.
The ways and means of implementing any of all moral principles are very different and depend on the personal qualities of the individual, national and religious traditions, established in society and specific life situations. The most extensive and widely used are 5 principles: humanism, mutual respect, rationalism, courage and honor.
✔️ Humanism is one of the main principles of morality. These are positive qualities that represent a conscientious, benevolent and selfless approach to the people around us and to all living things in nature. A person is a being endowed with spirituality and intelligence, and in any, even the most difficult situation, he is obliged to remain a person in accordance with the high moral level of his development. Humanism is formed from daily selfless actions, support from loved ones, mutual assistance and the ability to compromise in controversial situations. Humanism is an act of goodwill that is based on full understanding, trust and mutual respect.
✔️ Mutual respect is a respectful and polite attitude towards the world around us, as if it were magic or a valuable gift. Such a law prescribes to treat people and the world around us with gratitude. Mutual respect is associated with such qualities as respect, kindness, and gratitude.
✔️ Rationalism is action based on moral experience. It contains principles such as wisdom and logic. Rationality, on the one hand, is the actions of reason, given to the individual from birth, and on the other hand, actions that correspond to experience and a system of moral values.
✔️ Courage and honor are categories that mean an individual’s ability to overcome difficult life obstacles and fears without losing a sense of dignity and respect for others. They are strongly interconnected and are based on the foundation of responsibility, commitment and perseverance.
Moral principles must be constantly present in human behavior to strengthen the moral spirit.
Having understood what moral principles there are, we can move on to studying moral norms.
How is morality formed?
The concepts of “good and evil”, “bad and good” are relative. In every society they are formed historically and bear the imprints of all significant events. Morality is created on the basis of these concepts, so it is also quite conditional, characteristic of a particular society or social group. In addition to the concepts of “good and evil,” morality incorporates centuries-old traditions and customs, so it may look quite strange to representatives of other cultures.
Today we perfectly understand the immorality of slavery, genocide and “holy” wars. But literally a few centuries ago, all of the above was encouraged in most countries of the world (including by educated people who seriously talked about morality and the common good). Therefore, morality is an important sign of the development of human society , showing how mature it is.
The processes of formation of morality in various ethnic groups are of particular interest to scientists who study the social evolution of peoples. In their research, they proceed from the fact that behavioral norms are formed in such a way as to ensure the survival of the ethnic group and guarantee the continuation of the family. At the same time, an individual person observes the norms of universal morality, feeling responsible to society.
How was the concept of morality formed?
It is impossible to say for sure when people first thought about what morality was. The most ancient source describing this concept is the parables of Solomon (mid-10th century BC). Confucius (VI-V centuries BC) wrote a lot about issues of morality and ethics, who considered mercy, philanthropy and integrity to be the most important universal values. He claimed that he did not create a new teaching, but collected together the knowledge received from the ancient sages.
The modern word “morality” comes from the Latin word mores (traditions, mores). It was used by ancient Roman authors to show the conformity of a certain act with good morals. Also, ancient Greek authors discussed a lot about the concepts of conscience, honor and virtue, starting from the 8th century BC. It is interesting that the word “morality” came into the Russian language through French (la morale) in the 18th century.
Cicero made a great contribution to the formation of the concept of morality. The thinker talked a lot about how ethics, morality and law relate to each other. He sought to show that it is impossible to separate the concepts of law and morality, since together they make it possible to rid society of chaos and create order. Of course, Cicero, who lived in the 1st century BC, was far from a pioneer on this topic. But it was he who introduced the definition of morality , which we still rely on today.
Morality is not just a philosophical concept. It traditionally serves as the basis for many religions. Key principles of morality are found in the teachings of Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and Buddha. Since the level of education in those days was different, many moral norms were incomprehensible and not obvious to ordinary people. But believing that “God wants it this way,” they accepted and observed these norms.
What is morality?
If you are interested in morality, what it is and you want to know who is the author of the term “morality”, you will have to look into the distant past. The word morality was first mentioned by the ancient Greek philosopher Cicero. The word comes from the Greek mores, which means “generally accepted traditions.” Aristotle later positioned the concept of the word “morality” as defining a separate branch of the study of “practical” philosophy, because it answers the question: what should we do?
Reflecting on what morality means, Aristotle named the main goal of ethical happiness - the activity of the soul in the fullness of virtue, that is, self-realization.
Self-realization of a person is a reasonable act that avoids extremes and maintains a golden mean. Therefore, the basis of virtue is moderation and caution. The branch of philosophy that studies the norms of morality and morality is called “ethics”. In ethics, the definition of the word morality is as follows: morality is a synthesis of generally accepted norms of behavior in society, an understanding of what is good and what is bad, where is the line between good and evil, attitude towards oneself, others and nature.
