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Morality, Moral Values and Value Goods

Publication |
2017

Abstract

When some politicians speak about spreading of military islamism, they often use the expressions like European values, Christian values or simply values, but often without exactly understanding these expressions. Moral values (bonum morale) are characteristics of human behaviour, characteristics of an act or will.

They concern the subject of morality, they have moral character and to act against them is never allowed. An example can be justice, honesty and many others.

Value goods (bonum physicum) are e.g. customs, family life, institutions, possessions. They exist prior to a concrete human act, independent of the will, thinking or the desires of man.

They are not qualities of will. They are something that can be possessed.

They are of pre-moral character, they are not decisive for the moral quality of an act. Their loss may be painful, but not immoral.

Migration crisis may cause loss of some of them, but that happened many times in the history. Their hierarchical arrangement depends on a concrete anthropology.

Disturbing the hierarchical arrangement of values may be an ethical compromise that can be allowed only under specific circumstancies.