GENERAL STUDIES - IV 02/07/2017

MODULE – 1B
VALUES, ETHICS, MORALS
What are the differences between values, ethics, morals and principles? “While Values motivate,
morals and ethics constrain”. Values describe what is important in a person’s life, while ethics
and morals prescribe what is or is not considered appropriate behaviour in living one’s life.
Principles inform our choice of values, morals and ethics.
o values describes individual or personal standards of what is valuable or important.
o morals describes the goodness or badness or right or wrong of actions.
o ethics describes the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or conducting of an
activity
o principles inform our choice of values, morals and ethics.

VALUES AND MORALS

Morals and values are a part of the behavioral aspect of a person. There is not much difference
between morals and values but both are correlated to each other. Values are the rules by which we
make decisions about right and wrong, should and shouldn't, good and bad. They also tell us
which are more or less important, which is useful when we have to trade off meeting one value
over another.
Moral is a system of beliefs that is taught for deciding good or bad whereas values are personal
beliefs or something that comes from within.
Morals have a greater social element to values and tend to have a very broad acceptance.
Morals are far more about good and bad than other values. We thus judge others more strongly
on morals than values. A person can be described as immoral, yet there is no word for them not
following values. Basic differences:
1. Morals are generally taught by the society to the individual whereas values come from
within.
2. Morals act as a motivation for leading a good life while values can be called as an
intuition.
3. Morals are related to one’s religion, business or politics whereas values are personal
fundamental beliefs or principles.
4. Morals are deep seated whereas values keep on changing with time and needs.
For example, by assessing that telling the truth is a good behaviour, a person has set honesty as a
value. That person then incorporates that value into his view of morality, deeming honesty to be
right and dishonesty to be wrong.

VALUES AND ETHICS

Generally speaking, Value refers to the relative worth of a quality or object. Value is what makes
something desirable or undesirable. Though applying our personal values (usually
unconsciously) as benchmarks, we continually make subjective judgments about a whole manner
of things. Ethics on the other hand are the standards by which behaviours are evaluated for
their morality—their rightness or wrongness.
Ethics is a system of moral principles, in contrast to values, which is the stimuli of our thinking.
Values strongly influence the emotional state of mind. Therefore it acts as a motivator. On the
other hand, ethics compels to follow a particular course of action. Ethics are consistent, whereas
values are different for different persons, i.e. what is important for one person, may not be

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important for another person. Values tell us what we want to do or achieve in our life, whereas
ethics helps us in deciding what is morally correct or incorrect, in the given situation.
Concepts such as material success, individualism, efficiency, thrift, freedom, courage, hard
work, prudence, competition, patriotism, compromise, and punctuality all are value
standards that have varying degrees of potency in contemporary global culture. But we probably
would not view them primarily as ethical standards of right and wrong. Ethical judgments focus
more precisely on degrees of rightness and wrongness in human behaviour. In condemning
someone for being inefficient, conformist, extravagant, lazy, or late, we probably would not also
claim they are unethical. However, standards such as honesty, truthfulness, fairness, and
humaneness usually are used in making ethical judgments of rightness and wrongness in
human behaviour.
Clearly our values influence what we will determine as ethical; “however, values are our measures
of importance, whereas ethics represent our judgments about right and wrong.” This close
relationship between importance and right and wrong is a powerful influence on our behaviour
and how we evaluate the behavior of others.
Values are very much personal while ethics is very much societal. One can also see that values
and ethics sometimes can be in conflict. Even if one has certain values, he will not be able to
entertain certain decisions based on the ethical codes. Though abortion is considered to be legal,
some people do not approve of it ethically.

ETHICS AND MORALS

The major differences between Morals and Ethics are as under:
1. Morals are general guidelines framed by the society. E.g. We should speak truth.
Conversely, ethics are a response to a particular situation, E.g. Is it ethical to state the truth
in a particular situation?
2. Morals are dictated by society, culture or religion while Ethics are chosen by the person
himself which governs his life.
3. Morals are concerned with principles of right and wrong. On the contrary, ethics stresses on
right and wrong conduct.
4. As morals are framed and designed by the group, there is no option to think and choose; the
individual can either accept or reject. Conversely, the people are free to think and choose the
principles of his life in ethics.
5. Morals may vary from society to society and culture to culture. As opposed to Ethics, which
remains same regardless of any culture, religion or society.

Values – The basis of harmony in relationships

Morals – The basis of harmony in community
Ethics – The basis of harmony in society & social order

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 GENERAL STUDIES - IV 02/07/2017
MODULE – 1B
VALUES, ETHICS, MORALS
What are the differences between values, ethics, morals and principles? “While Values motivate,
morals and ethics constrain”. Values describe what is important in a person’s life, while ethics
and morals prescribe what is or is not considered appropriate behaviour in living one’s life.
Principles inform our choice of values, morals and ethics.
o values describes individual or personal standards of what is valuable or important.
o morals describes the goodness or badness or right or wrong of actions.
o ethics describes the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or conducting of an
activity
o principles inform our choice of values, morals and ethics.

VALUES AND MORALS

Morals and values are a part of the behavioral aspect of a person. There is not much difference
between morals and values but both are correlated to each other. Values are the rules by which we
make decisions about right and wrong, should and shouldn't, good and bad. They also tell us
which are more or less important, which is useful when we have to trade off meeting one value
over another.
Moral is a system of beliefs that is taught for deciding good or bad whereas values are personal
beliefs or something that comes from within.
Morals have a greater social element to values and tend to have a very broad acceptance.
Morals are far more about good and bad than other values. We thus judge others more strongly
on morals than values. A person can be described as immoral, yet there is no word for them not
following values. Basic differences:
5. Morals are generally taught by the society to the individual whereas values come from
within.
6. Morals act as a motivation for leading a good life while values can be called as an
intuition.
7. Morals are related to one’s religion, business or politics whereas values are personal
fundamental beliefs or principles.
8. Morals are deep seated whereas values keep on changing with time and needs.
For example, by assessing that telling the truth is a good behaviour, a person has set honesty as a
value. That person then incorporates that value into his view of morality, deeming honesty to be
right and dishonesty to be wrong.

VALUES AND ETHICS

Generally speaking, Value refers to the relative worth of a quality or object. Value is what makes
something desirable or undesirable. Though applying our personal values (usually
unconsciously) as benchmarks, we continually make subjective judgments about a whole manner
of things. Ethics on the other hand are the standards by which behaviours are evaluated for
their morality—their rightness or wrongness.
Ethics is a system of moral principles, in contrast to values, which is the stimuli of our thinking.
Values strongly influence the emotional state of mind. Therefore it acts as a motivator. On the
other hand, ethics compels to follow a particular course of action. Ethics are consistent, whereas

NEO IAS, Charachira Road, Near Kerala State Civil Service Academy, TVM 0471-6555775, 9605501353 Page 1
www.neoias.com | www.youtube.com/neoias | www.facebook.com/neoias | www.twitter.com/neoias
values are different for different persons, i.e. what is important for one person, may not be
important for another person. Values tell us what we want to do or achieve in our life, whereas
ethics helps us in deciding what is morally correct or incorrect, in the given situation.
Concepts such as material success, individualism, efficiency, thrift, freedom, courage, hard
work, prudence, competition, patriotism, compromise, and punctuality all are value
standards that have varying degrees of potency in contemporary global culture. But we probably
would not view them primarily as ethical standards of right and wrong. Ethical judgments focus
more precisely on degrees of rightness and wrongness in human behaviour. In condemning
someone for being inefficient, conformist, extravagant, lazy, or late, we probably would not also
claim they are unethical. However, standards such as honesty, truthfulness, fairness, and
humaneness usually are used in making ethical judgments of rightness and wrongness in
human behaviour.
Clearly our values influence what we will determine as ethical; “however, values are our measures
of importance, whereas ethics represent our judgments about right and wrong.” This close
relationship between importance and right and wrong is a powerful influence on our behaviour
and how we evaluate the behavior of others.
Values are very much personal while ethics is very much societal. One can also see that values
and ethics sometimes can be in conflict. Even if one has certain values, he will not be able to
entertain certain decisions based on the ethical codes. Though abortion is considered to be legal,
some people do not approve of it ethically.

ETHICS AND MORALS

The major differences between Morals and Ethics are as under:
6. Morals are general guidelines framed by the society. E.g. We should speak truth.
Conversely, ethics are a response to a particular situation, E.g. Is it ethical to state the truth
in a particular situation?
7. Morals are dictated by society, culture or religion while Ethics are chosen by the person
himself which governs his life.
8. Morals are concerned with principles of right and wrong. On the contrary, ethics stresses on
right and wrong conduct.
9. As morals are framed and designed by the group, there is no option to think and choose; the
individual can either accept or reject. Conversely, the people are free to think and choose the
principles of his life in ethics.
10. Morals may vary from society to society and culture to culture. As opposed to Ethics, which
remains same regardless of any culture, religion or society.

Values – The basis of harmony in relationships

Morals – The basis of harmony in community
Ethics – The basis of harmony in society & social order

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