Question

What then, are values and where do values come from? If you and I have the same religious upbringing that results in a similar moral foundation, can we value different things? Is that distinction important within the study of ethics?

Answer 1

Values stem from the culture where a person is brought up. Although people across the world follow same religion, the value system and the norms are determined by the native culture rather than the religion. Thus the core value is derived from culture and society and not from religion. This means no one could make the religious values universal because almost all the religions were started at one part of the world and extended to other parts of the world thus would only function as a ritualistic. It’s really important to know this difference within the study of ethics as this would mean that people are different and each society has got its own priorities and lifestyle when it decides its norms and functions. Religious values and ethics are relatively new whereas the cultural values are very old.