Life is a universal, objective value. We might take this point for granted, but we all have the life value, or we would not be alive. Life is also a dual value – we value our own life and the lives of others.
Values have an intrinsic worth in usefulness or importance to the possessor. Values are the things people determine to be the most important in their lives.
Morals are relative values that protect life and are respectful of the dual life value of self and others. Morals have a greater social element to values and tend to have a very broad acceptance. They are far more about good and bad than other values.
Ethics are moral values in action. Ethics tend to be codified into a formal system or set of rules which are explicitly adopted by a group of people. Ethics are thus internally defined and adopted, whilst morals tend to be externally imposed on other people.
To summarize, 'Values motivate, morals and ethics constrain'. In other words:
- Values are our fundamental beliefs, describes individual or personal standards of what is valuable or important
- Morals are values which we attribute to a system of beliefs
- Ethics is about our actions and decisions