Moral values are the values of the moral-personal life — justice, love, fidelity, purity. They form the third and highest level in the intra-worldly stratification of values of Dietrich von Hildebrand (Ethik, 1953/1973). Only persons can bear or fail to attain moral values.
Moral values differ categorially from vital and intellectual values in that they presuppose responsibility. They are neither mere biological facts nor mere contents of knowledge, but presuppose the self-determination and the value-response capacity of the person.
Among the moral values are common good and moral relevance (German) as objective reference structures of moral action. Above the moral values stands, in Scheler’s Ordo Amoris, holiness (German) as the highest level of value — referring to the absolute and unconditioned.
The Personalist Norm “The human person is to be affirmed and loved for their own sake” is a moral obligation that follows from the objective value of the person.
Ontological classification:
- superordinate concept: Objective Value
- subordinate concepts: Common Good, Moral Relevance (German)
- transcendental ground: bonum
- disjoint with: Vital Value, Intellectual Value, Aesthetic Value
Chapter assignment: Chapter 4: What is human personhood? (German)
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology.
Further sources:
- Hildebrand, D. von: Ethik (1953/1973), in: Gesammelte Werke, vol. II. Regensburg: Habbel. — Seifert, J. (2014): Ontological Categories, Anuario Filosófico 47(2), pp. 315—356.
See also:
- Objective Value
- Common Good
- Moral Relevance (German)
- Personalist Norm
- Holiness (German)