INTRODUCTION

The ideas of universal human values ​​arose in the ancient world, were developed during the Renaissance and have survived to this day. At the center of the progressive ideas of every nation was the idea of ​​recognizing man as the highest value, respect for his personality and dignity, the idea of ​​goodness and spirituality. Life, health, love, work, peace, beauty, creativity carry a humanistic principle.

Humanism as a system of views and a direction of social thought accepts philanthropy, freedom and justice, dignity, hard work, equality, brotherhood, collectivism, and internationalism as the highest values. The existence of the human race as a whole requires such qualities as a willingness to help other people, to show complicity, respect, to show care, to satisfy needs, including the need for the realization of abilities and capabilities.

Universal human values ​​bring spiritual goals closer together and make them closer different nations, different religions and eras.

Universal human values ​​have the nature of principles formulated at the level of a high degree of generalization. Naturally, they are abstract and sometimes declarative. Being philosophical, sociological and other ideologies, they often fall into the strict language of legal norms and require additional interpretation and development in order for their application to be ensured by legal means.

Problems related to human values ​​are among the most important for any of the sciences dealing with man and society, primarily due to the fact that values ​​act as an integrative basis both for an individual and for any small or large social group or culture , nation and humanity as a whole.

FUNDAMENTALS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF GENERAL HUMAN VALUES

Human development has been going on for thousands of years, and there is no reason to consider modern man more intelligent than his distant ancestors. That is, physiologically the human brain has not become more complex over the past few thousand years. And at the same time, the success of human civilization in a universal human organization is undeniable, which led to the creation public structures on a planetary scale.

Uniting people into a team is a rather complex process; each of us knows that even on the scale of the smallest community, united by close family relationships, various misunderstandings occur. Any family is an arena in which there is a continuous process of coordinating various interests, searching for compromises, and often it comes to conflicts and violence. As the number of participants grows, these phenomena intensify, and conflicts take on a more violent form - wars become the main element of relations. Defense spending consumes enormous resources, but this does not provide any guarantee of security. Therefore, the huge role of moral principles that allow peaceful coexistence and cooperation becomes clear a large number people. Already in relations within one family, their role is enormous, and it should be recognized that the development of the entire civilization, its prospects, are entirely determined by the degree of development of relations between people, their ability to coordinate their actions and interests. It is these functions, to ensure good neighborly relations between people, that are performed by the so-called universal human values- a set of moral principles that allows to different people live peacefully in a team.

One should not think that universal human values ​​are something unchangeable, given once and for all. As they develop society, they change themselves. Studying the history of development human society allows us to distinguish at least three stages in the development of universal human values.

A feature of the study of the development of universal human values ​​should be recognized that each person is able to test all the principles set forth using the example of the development of their own personality. Just as during the period of intrauterine development a baby, as it were, repeats the entire evolution of the species, so after birth a person, developing, mastering the customs and traditions of his people and his family, accelerates through the entire history of his people.

The earliest stage of human development corresponds to the primitive communal system, when the so-called prohibitions - taboos - prevailed. A feature of this period of development of universal human values ​​is the virtual absence in people of what we understand as personality, consciousness in the form that is currently inherent in a normal adult person. A person fulfills the requirements of prohibitions - taboos, without thinking about either the causes or the consequences. He has no idea of ​​cause-and-effect relationships, and therefore no coherent idea of ​​the world around him.

The process of accumulation of prohibitions - taboos - proceeded in the most random manner and therefore was very long - tens of thousands of years. But the problem arose of preserving the accumulated prohibitions - taboos and their interpretation. In addition, the sheer number of prohibitions - taboos - became more and more, and the need arose to systematize them. And the prohibitions themselves - taboos have lost the form of a pure prohibition, turning into a kind of instruction, prescribing a certain ritual, a procedure for performing actions in a wide variety of fields of activity. By this time, the idea of ​​​​spirits had already arisen, at first as something that recently existed in the real world, but, having disappeared from real world, continues to influence him in some way.

There was a need for a certain system that was obvious in its simplicity, but allowed to describe sufficiently complex processes in the relationship between them. And such a system was found using the system of kinship relationships within the tribe. Direct kinship, complex hierarchy of relationships, various degrees distant kinship, all this created an excellent opportunity to explain the phenomena outside world, using as a model the kinship relationships that exist within the tribe.

There is a clear understanding of cause and effect. This is already the second stage in the development of universal human values, at this stage a person begins to build a model of the world around him, and he has the need to determine his own place in the world around him, to highlight his interest, his needs. An idea of ​​one’s own personality and its interests arises. A person begins to model the world based on the idea of ​​​​his priorities - he begins to create his “idols”, arranging all other events depending on these “idols”. These systems are deeply subjective; they determine a person’s abilities and intelligence.

The main feature of any pagan system is its goal - first of all, the satisfaction of material needs. And it is precisely this goal that science serves, and at the same time, in its highest manifestations, science begins to come into contact with the spiritual life of man, providing the opportunity to transition, under certain conditions, to the third level of development of universal human values.

In addition to its impact on man himself, paganism also had a qualitative impact on the social structure - the state was born. One of the factors at the next level of development of universal human values ​​was the ability to model the surrounding world to varying depths, a clear example what is the modern idea of ​​the structure of matter. Thus, modern science, when studying matter, in various cases uses several levels of representation of matter. But already from this model, it is obvious that under certain conditions misunderstandings are possible, primarily due to differences in the levels of the models used.

Giving a person the opportunity to create various models to different depths of comprehension of the surrounding world, paganism led to the emergence of the problem of criteria - evaluation of the created models. There is an urgent need to evaluate the effectiveness of models used in everyday life.

Paganism provided man great opportunities, making the process of understanding the world more conscious, as a result, paganism in the history of mankind occupies a shorter period of time.

The desire for happiness is one of the basic properties of human nature, and is inherent in everyone. Search for the most important life values led to critical thinking emotional assessment. An idea arose of man himself as a complex of relationships between soul and flesh, consciousness and subconsciousness in a modern interpretation.

The pursuit of pleasure turns the closest people into competitors in the struggle for a piece of the pleasure pie, sowing enmity, envy and malice. Based on these values, a person’s thinking is determined, when a person considers the actions of others based on his own values, suspecting those around him of the most unseemly desires.

IN public relations paganism definitely leads to absolutism - the so-called totalitarian system, logically this is due to the desire for ideal freedom - the complete fulfillment of desires and whims.

The third stage in the development of universal human values ​​is determined by a person’s desire to gain freedom - to get out of dependence on the subconscious, from a servant of the subconscious to become its master. This is largely determined by the significant contradictions that have arisen between consciousness and the subconscious, so for the subconscious the most important thing is the fulfillment of the tasks facing man as a biological species, while for consciousness the individual fate of the individual plays a large role.

The third level of development of universal human values ​​is characterized by the desire of consciousness to highlight own interests, which, as it turned out, not only did not coincide with the interests of the subconscious, but often contradicted them.

The universal human values ​​of the third level include both first levels of development and allow people who have mastered various levels of universal human values ​​to get along quite well in one family.

The third level of mastering universal human values ​​leads society to a different level of relations. Thus, a person who professes the highest values ​​needs the rights to freely fulfill, first of all, his duty to develop his own personality.

Social relations acquire a subordinate role: the function of society becomes to ensure that every person has the opportunity to fulfill his duty to God. What is declared in the preamble of the social contract - the Constitution of the country.

The Constitution stands in in this case connecting element between moral laws and state laws. The Constitution guarantees that the government will not force people to violate moral laws.

The consequence of this is close control over the moral character of people striving to manage a democratic society. It is obvious that only people who have mastered the third level of development of universal human values ​​can claim this role; evidence of this is their strict compliance with moral laws.

pedagogical teenager universal society

Interest in the processes of interaction between people and their value orientations arose in the early stages social development. The first observations of these processes were recorded in the works of Aristotle, Democritus, Confucius and other thinkers of the past. They paid attention to some processes leading to the development of social and cultural values, the formation spiritual world person.

XVIII-XIX centuries synthesized the main trends in the development of the theory of value relations in such sciences as aesthetics, philosophy, ethics and developed them further. Confirmation of this can be found in the works of V. V. Hegel, I.F. Herbart, F. Nietzsche, and many others.

In the 20th century The development of axiological thought was carried out by E. Hartmann, I. Kohn, P. Lapi, G. Münsterberg. Appeared different approaches to an understanding of values. Scientists such as M. Varosh, M. Weber, N. Lossky, V. Stern and others worked in this direction. But almost all the work boiled down to listing value guidelines. However, to classify the various theoretical approaches Only O. Kraus decided to study such a concept as universal human values.

In the second half of the 20th century. Almost the central place was occupied by the discussion of the relationship between good and evil (S. Lyman, Ts. Makigushi, E. Montague, F. Matson, E. Fromm, etc.). In Russia, the development of the theory of spiritual values ​​was carried out by B.N. Bugaev, A.I. Vvedensky, N.O. Lossky, A.V. Lunacharsky, S.L. Frank and others. The ideas of orientation towards the values ​​of humanity were expressed in his works by V.G. Belinsky, A.I. Herzen, N.M. Karamzin, D.I. Pisarev, A.N. Radishchev, L.N. Tolstoy, K.D. Ushinsky, N.G. Chernyshevsky, ST. Shatsky and others.

The turn to universal human guidelines in modern society gave the prerequisites for the appearance of the works of E.V. Bondarevskaya, O.S. Gazman, and others.

On modern stage The problem of universal human values ​​is one of the most complex, affecting the interests of different social groups. Let's consider several options for interpreting universal human values.

Universal values- a set of concepts included in the system philosophical teaching about man and components most important subject studying axiology. Universal human values ​​stand out among other values ​​in that they express the common interests of the human race, free from national, political, religious and other biases, and as such act as an imperative for the development of human civilization. Any value as a philosophical category denotes the positive significance of a phenomenon and comes from the priority of human interests, i.e. characterized by anthropocentricity. Anthropocentrism of universal human values ​​has a socio-historical character, independent of specific socio-cultural manifestations and based on the historically emerging unity of ideas about the presence of certain universal, essentially significant properties of human existence.

Universal human values ​​recognized by the world community include: life, freedom, happiness, and highest manifestations the nature of man, revealed in his communication with his own kind and with the transcendental world. Violation of universal human values ​​is considered a crime against humanity.

In the past, the universalism of those values ​​that are now commonly called universal was realized only within the framework of an ethnocultural and social community, and their significance was justified by divine institution. These were, for example, the Old Testament Ten Commandments - fundamental norms social behavior, given to “God’s chosen people” from above and not extended to other nations. Over time, as unity is realized human nature and the introduction of peoples leading a primitive way of life into the world human civilization, universal human values ​​began to be established on a planetary scale. The concept of natural human rights was of exceptional importance for the establishment of universal human values. In modern and contemporary times, attempts have been made repeatedly to completely deny universal human values ​​or to pass off individual values ​​as such. social groups, classes, peoples and civilizations. [ Global problems And universal values. M., 1990; SalkJon., SalkJonsth. World Population and Human Values: A New Reality. New York, 1981.

The latest philosophical dictionary gives the following interpretation

Universal human values ​​are a system of axiological maxims, the content of which is not directly related to a specific historical period in the development of society or a specific ethnic tradition, but, in each sociocultural tradition, is filled with its own specific meaning, is reproduced, however, in any type of culture as a value. The problem of universal human values ​​is dramatically renewed in eras of social catastrophism: the predominance of destructive processes in politics, disintegration social institutions, devaluation of moral values ​​and the search for civilized sociocultural choices. At the same time, the fundamental value at all times of human history has been life itself and the problem of its preservation and development in natural and cultural forms. The variety of approaches to the study of universal human values ​​gives rise to a multiplicity of their classifications according to various criteria. In connection with the structure of being, natural values ​​are noted (inorganic and organic nature, minerals) and cultural (freedom, creativity, love, communication, activity). According to the personality structure, values ​​are biopsychological (health) and spiritual. According to the forms of spiritual culture, values ​​are classified into moral (the meaning of life and happiness, goodness, duty, responsibility, conscience, honor, dignity), aesthetic (beautiful, sublime), religious (faith), scientific (truth), political (peace, justice, democracy), legal (law and order). In connection with the object-subject nature of the value relationship, one can note the objective (results human activity), subjective (attitudes, assessments, imperatives, norms, goals) values. In general, the polyphony of universal human values ​​also gives rise to the conventions of their classification. Each historical era and specific ethnic group express themselves in a hierarchy of values ​​that determine what is socially acceptable. Value systems are in development and their time scales do not coincide with sociocultural reality. In the modern world, the moral and aesthetic values ​​of antiquity, the humanistic ideals of Christianity, the rationalism of the New Age, and the paradigm of non-violence of the 20th century are significant. and many more etc. Universal human values ​​form value orientations like priorities sociocultural development ethnic groups or personalities assigned social practice or life experience person. Among the latter, there are value orientations towards family, education, work, social activities, and other areas of human self-affirmation. In the modern era global changes The absolute values ​​of goodness, beauty, truth and faith acquire special significance as the fundamental foundations of the corresponding forms of spiritual culture, presupposing harmony, measure, balance whole world man and his constructive life affirmation in culture. And, since the current sociocultural dimension is determined today not so much by existence as by its change, goodness, beauty, truth and faith mean not so much adherence to absolute values ​​as their search and acquisition. Among universal human values, special mention should be made moral values, traditionally representing the generally significant in its relationship with the ethnonational and individual. In universal human morality, some common forms of community life are preserved, and the continuity of moral requirements associated with the simplest forms of human relationships is noted. The Biblical moral commandments are of enduring importance: the Old Testament Ten Commandments of Moses and the New Testament Sermon on the Mount of Jesus Christ. The form of presenting moral demands, associated with the ideals of humanism, justice and personal dignity, is also universal in morality.

Studying various literary sources, we can say that,

the stunning variety of points of view on this issue fits between two polarities: (1) there are no universal human values; (2) there are universal human values.

Arguments first can be divided into three types:

• a) there were no universal human values, there are no and there cannot be; this follows from the fact that, firstly, all people and human communities had and have special, different and even incompatible interests, goals, beliefs, etc.; secondly, like any ideological problem, the problem of determining value cannot have an unambiguous solution at all; it is difficult to formulate; thirdly, the solution to this problem is largely determined by epochal and specific historical conditions, which are very different; fourthly, values ​​were and are only local in time and space;
• b) there were and are no universal human values, but the concept itself is used or can be used for good or selfish purposes to manipulate public opinion;
• c) there were and are no universal human values, but since different communities do not exist in isolation from each other, then for the peaceful coexistence of different social forces, cultures, civilizations, etc. it is necessary to develop an essentially artificial set of certain “universal human values.” In other words, although such values ​​actually did not exist and do not exist, they can and should be developed and imposed on all people, communities, and civilizations.

Arguments second points of view can be summarized as follows:

• a) universal human values ​​are a phenomenon only material, i.e. physical or biological: (wealth, satisfaction physiological needs etc.);
• b) universal human values ​​are pure spiritual phenomenon (abstract dreams about Truth, Goodness, Justice...);
• c) universal human values ​​are combination both material and spiritual values.

At the same time, some consider “values” to be stable, unchanging, while others consider them to change depending on changes in economic, political, military and other conditions, on the policies of the ruling elite or party, on changes in the socio-political system, etc. For example, in Russia the dominance of private property was replaced by the dominance of public, and then by private. Values ​​have changed accordingly.

Each person, any society certainly enters into different relationships with himself, with his parts, with the world around him. The whole variety of such relationships can be reduced to two types: material and spiritual or material-spiritual and spiritual-material. The first includes all types practical activities: production of material goods, economic relations, transformations in the material sphere of social life, in everyday life, experiments, experiments, etc. IN spiritual and material includes, first and foremost, cognitive, evaluative, normative relations. Cognitive relationships certainly contain the search for a solution and the process of solving such universal questions: “what is it?”, “what is it like?”, “how much of it?”, “where (where, from)?”, “when (how long, until or after)?”, “how (how)?”, “why?”, “why?” etc.

Evaluative relations are also associated with the search for universal questions, but of a different kind (questions concerning the meaning of the cognizable or cognizable, its significance, attitude towards people: “truth or error (false)?”, “interesting or uninteresting?”, “useful or harmful? ", "necessary or unnecessary?", "good or bad?", etc.

Of course, it is only possible to evaluate what is at least to some extent known. The assessment and the degree of its adequacy are directly dependent on the level, depth, and comprehensiveness of knowledge of the person being assessed. Then it has the opposite effect on further move process of cognition. If values ​​are impossible without evaluation, this does not mean that they depend entirely on it. All universal human values ​​are associated with the objective reality of nature and society, i.e. really exist. Consciousness can only contain desires, ideas, understanding of values ​​that differ among different people, communities, etc. But there must really be something in values general even for very different people, i.e. have always been and exist universal human values.

Based on evaluative attitudes and the experience of their application to nature, society and man, norms and rules of behavior are formed, which represent the denominator, overall result social experience, which guides people in further cognitive, evaluative and practical activities. Elements of such normative relations are usually referred to by the terms: “principle”, “rule”, “requirement”, “norm”, “law”, “installation”, “commandment”, “covenant”, “prohibition”, “taboo”, “mandate” ", "definition", "creed", "creed", "canon", etc.

What is valuable, which is recognized as such by people in the process of their activities, is very heterogeneous. Therefore, it is impossible not to distinguish:

• 1) values ​​as such, as initial, fundamental, absolute (in the sense of indisputable), eternal (in the sense of always existing), etc.
• 2) values ​​that are private.

Since axiological (evaluative) activity directly depends on cognitive activity, values ​​cannot be what is incomprehensible to our thinking, what is unreal, impossible, unfeasible, unattainable, unrealizable, imaginary, fantastic, utopian, chimerical, etc. “Value is a term used in philosophical and sociological literature to indicate the human, social and cultural significance of certain phenomena of reality.” Means, value- that which is real, that is (exists) and at the same time has greater or lesser significance and importance for people.

S.F. Anisimov highlights the following groups values:

absolute values: life, health, knowledge, progress, justice, spiritual perfection, humanity.

anti-values(pseudo-values): illness, death, ignorance, mysticism, human degradation;

relative(relative) values ​​that are unstable and change depending on historical, class, ideological positions: ideological, political, religious, class, group From the point of view of S. A Anisimov, values ​​are classified as follows: the highest values ​​of existence - man and humanity; values material life people; social values; values ​​of the spiritual life of society.

When using the term “universal” one should keep in mind at least three interrelated aspects:

• 1) universal (in the sense: common to everyone) as something that concerns every practically healthy and sane person (from primitive man to modern);
• 2) universal as something that represents an absolute, enduring and highly significant need for humanity as a whole(eg environmental values);
• 3) universal as that which is or should be the focus of attention each state(eg national and international security).

Thus, we can assert that universal human values ​​are what is truly important for people, what is certainly necessary, desirable, what has lasting, essential significance for almost everyone normal person, regardless of his gender, race, citizenship, social status etc. Universal human values ​​are highly significant for humanity as the unity of all people, as well as for any state, since it meets or should meet the needs, interests, requirements of society and the citizen.

In accordance with the three areas of existence of universal human values, three types of systems of these values ​​should be distinguished: 1) general personal values, 2) values ​​common to all humanity, 2) values ​​of the sphere of activity of states or a union of states. The starting point, as we believe, is a system of personal or general personal values.

As a result, this structure took the following form in our work:

moral values: goodness, justice, honesty, sincerity, humanity, responsibility, dignity, mercy, tolerance, modesty, care, etc.;

ethical values: beauty, truth, intelligence, etc.;

artistic values: beauty, creativity, acceptance of cultural values, etc.

spiritual values: faith, love, hope.

Leading the study I'm lying around universal moral values: goodness, justice, honesty, sincerity, humanity, responsibility, dignity, mercy, tolerance, modesty, care, etc.; focused on the internal qualities of a person, taking into account behavioral norms and helping in social adaptation schoolchildren, closely interacting with social, civic, communicative values. The main feature of moral humanistic values ​​is that their orientation is aimed at the benefit of man and life on earth. They permeate other values, so it is not uncommon to highlight them.

In our work we will consider the values: goodness, honesty and dignity.

"goodness" "honesty" and "dignity".

Dobro Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Something positive, good, useful, the opposite of evil; good deed.

In the only dictionary by V.I. Dahl writes that “Good

materially, all that is good cf. property or wealth, acquisition, goodness, esp. movable. All my goodness or kindness is gone. They have an abyss of goods in their chests. All good is dust.

In spiritual meaning good, what is honest and useful, everything that the duty of a person, a citizen, a family man requires of us; the opposite of bad and evil. Do good, don't be afraid of anyone. There is no harm in good things. Good is not repaid with evil. [

The outstanding scientist, humanist and thinker Ali Absheroni spoke about goodness as follows: “Goodness is enduring spiritual and moral values ​​and good deeds committed under their influence.”

V.I. Dahl gives the following interpretation to the concept of honesty: “Directness, truthfulness, steadfastness in one’s conscience and duty, denial of deception and theft, reliability in fulfilling promises.” A quality especially valued by native Russian people. In the ancient Russian instructions of fathers to their sons, this quality comes first - “to live according to conscience, honestly and without deception,” “to honestly fulfill one’s duty.”

The Russians used to have the following expressions: “I give my word of honor,” “Honest gentlemen,” “Honest guests,” “He was honestly received and seen off with honors.”

Popular proverbs: “Honest health brings joy to the heart”, “An honest refusal is better than a puff”, “An honest deed is not hidden”, “ To my honest husband“Honest and bow”, “By a good (honest) wife and an honest husband.” V.I. Dahl

Dignity is a set of properties that characterize high moral qualities, as well as awareness of the value of these properties and self-respect. Lose your dignity. Speak with dignity (Ozhegov I.S. Dictionary of the Russian language)

The outstanding German scientist Immanuel Kant spoke about dignity as follows: “Dignity is a person’s respect for the law of humanity in his own person.”

Dignity - concept moral consciousness, expressing an idea of ​​the value of the individual, a category of ethics that reflects the moral attitude of a person towards himself and society towards an individual. Consciousness self-esteem is a form of personal self-control on which the individual’s demands on himself are based; in this regard, the demands coming from society take the form of specifically personal ones (to act in such a way as not to humiliate one’s dignity). Thus, dignity, along with conscience, is one of the ways a person realizes his duty and responsibility to society. The dignity of the individual also regulates the attitude towards it on the part of others and society as a whole, containing the requirements of respect for the individual, recognition of his rights, and so on.

The problem of universal values

"When you tell adults: 'I saw beautiful house made of pink brick, with geraniums in the windows and doves on the roof,” they just can’t imagine this house. They need to say: “I saw a house for a hundred thousand francs” - and then they exclaim: “what a beauty!”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The Little Prince

Today, many thinkers are trying to give a generalized image of modern culture. One of the cardinal difficulties on this path lies in the seemingly unchangeable nature of man. Centuries change, the world fundamentally transforms, but man remains himself. There are no decisive breakthroughs in the education of moral principles of humanity. All great social utopias end in failure. Wars remain a wound on the body of civilization; they change, lose their classical contours, but are still just as terrible and inhumane. Kant's slogan "Towards eternal peace" remains a slogan. There is no doubt that important property modern culture are complex and contradictory relationships that arise between the carriers of civilization. However, the main thing should be recognized as follows: current situation is not fundamentally new. Acceleration technical progress and moral degradation of man are in the same chronotope as it was many centuries ago, only the time interval has noticeably shortened. The world of modern man is fundamentally different from what it was like 40-50 years ago. Many fundamental things are being questioned today: the role of the printed word, art, religion, and the very humanity in man. Euphoria (“technology and science can do anything!”) is replaced by disappointment in productivity human mind, reaching unimaginable heights in knowledge of the surrounding world and at the same time sinking more and more into the abyss of self-destruction. A person compares his behavior with a norm, an ideal, a goal, which acts as a model, a standard. Value is the significance of natural and cultural objects, phenomena, thoughts and actions for people’s lives, which is revealed in the process of man’s transformation of the world and himself. Values ​​express a person’s attitude to reality from the point of view of either what should be, sometimes not yet realized, but desired, important, necessary, or undesirable, unimportant, unnecessary, harmful. Any value makes sense only in comparison with another that opposes it. A peculiar combination of value orientations constitutes a unique inner world every person is the basis of his unique personality, individuality. A value-based attitude towards the world encourages a person to act, to be creative, to change reality in accordance with existing system values, as well as in accordance with their own value orientations. In this regard, values ​​can act as ideals, goals, means of activity, as criteria for human actions. In the name of the highest Values, for example, the Motherland, truth, freedom, a person can sacrifice not only his well-being, but also his life. Throughout history, humanity has developed some universal, universal values ​​that have lasting significance for many generations of people - truth, goodness, beauty, freedom, justice, etc. And although in different eras the content and meaning of these values ​​were understood differently, but it was they that reflected people’s desire for freedom and independence, for a happy and a decent life, contained a demand for the reconstruction of society on the principles of humanism and justice, a harmonious combination of personal and public interests.

The modern world has left far behind guidelines in the direction of harmony, tradition, and humanism. His aspirations continue to more and more fully realize the possibility of external freedom, using rationality as a means for this. But in addition to the classic priorities, new ones have emerged. First of all, it is consumption, information, acceleration. Consumption will allow modern man to answer the question about the meaning of life, information - to the question of truth, acceleration gives the answer to the question "What can I hope for?" (“What can I do?”). Constant changes in the external conditions of existence, significant migration of the population (both external and internal) in the direction of more prosperous places of life - all this causes the conditions for a final break with one’s own roots, home. Rootedness is overcome by the desire for constant qualitative growth. But the loss of one’s own “roots” is not only freedom and unconditionality, but also the loss of the nourishing environment that gave a person the basis for love and care for the world. Society is increasingly divided into those who have managed to adapt to the super-accelerating pace of development and those for whom this has proven impossible. The first ones are capable of perceiving and using a large amount of information, they are distinguished by confidence and a clear vision of the goal. The latter are in constant prostration, living without noticing the changing world, blocking it in their consciousness. Goals and meanings have no significance for them, existence is devoid of spiritual guidelines.

The modern world, as Toffler rightly pointed out, is becoming not only extremely prone to change, but also changing its fundamental priorities: stability, durability, strength are gradually losing their value status. They are replaced by convenience, absence of problems, constant novelty. Western world, and after him the rest of humanity becomes “disposable” in the essence of its relations with the objects of the world. Disposable household items, relationships with others, taking into account constant migration, develop a completely new attitude towards things and the environment in general. The world is perceived as temporary, fluid, as a constant stream of changes that does not bind a person to itself, does not increase his dependence on concern for the material and social. A person burdened with property and close relationships with others could only achieve such an understanding of the world as a result of long-term work on his consciousness. Now Western man comes to understand this quite naturally, as a result of everyday experience. Western perception under the influence of internal value factors, it came to a state of negative assessment of material existence, which constitutes the essence of the traditional worldview. On the one hand, abilities and creativity social function individuals will receive priority over property and wealth, giving scope and incentive intellectual development society, the establishment of freedom. On the other hand, transformation is also possible in the direction from the attitude of “having benefits” to the attitude of “having information”, as a more powerful means for control, domination, and power of an individual. Information can be both destructive and creative force, and therefore, as in the case of property, everything will depend on moral qualities its owner.

Disregard for the future is another feature of the worldview of modern society, where the concept of “care” is increasingly being replaced by the concept of “hope”. A person does not strive to take care of the Other in space and time; he hopes that everything will work out “somehow by itself.”

The focus on the present narrows from one’s own life to the individual today. The pace and dynamics of life activity do not allow it to be captured in thought as a whole. Unpredictability is enhanced by political instability, military confrontation between civilizations, and the development of non-judgmental science, for which there are no moral prohibitions and taboos. XX century made a special contribution to the development of the relationship between society and nature. On the one hand, the possible pressure of humanity on its own habitat was overcome, which gave rise to a situation of global environmental crisis, and on the other hand, the problem of the need to preserve nature and restore its resources was raised for the first time. In connection with the emergence and development of the global environmental crisis, nature again began to be perceived as a danger, and therefore required more attention. But not because it suddenly became a value, but because it could damage the self-worth of Man and his existence.

The modern era has a new appreciation for the phenomenon of life as a whole, and, above all, this is due to a special perception of death.

If we consider death as a certain indispensable condition of life, which is not so much an indicator of the victory of the forces of evil, but rather an opportunity for the deep fulfillment of life, then the attitude towards it will be of key importance in determining the significance of the latter. The value of life becomes more complete through the experience and understanding of death, especially the death of another, death loved one. The result of this can be love for life, which is the most important condition for love for the life of another, also going towards death. Disregard for life becomes the basis for disdain in relation to another, to his real, unique existence. This is probably the deepest axiological meaning of death, the awareness of which allows us to see life as highest value being. Death is not so much a value alternative to life, but rather the most important condition for its exceptionally high appreciation and understanding.

Opportunity mass death For some, it becomes the reason for a deep rejection of the world and its conditions of death, but for others it serves as the basis for understanding life as singularity and uniqueness in the Universe. For an everyday-thinking, vitally oriented subject, for mass man The era of consumption is characterized by a low assessment of life, associated, in our opinion, with two main reasons. Firstly, the fullness and depth of present existence turned out to be extremely connected with the satisfaction of ever-increasing needs. The degree of their satisfaction is very high, but the level of needs is immeasurably higher. Having acquired a person, he is already obsessed with new desires and is incapable of true joy and a positive assessment of the present.

Mass society objectively reduces the quality of communication, the possibility of creative expression, and the meaning of love. All this does not provide meaningful fulfillment of life.

The second reason for the negligible value of life in the modern era is related to the new attitude towards death. Experience by humanity massacres, everyday violence, the cult of death in art became the basis for disdain for the death of another. Death becomes a condition of interest in the game and in reality, but its ordinariness and the lack of spiritual experience due to its possibility and inevitability are no longer the basis for understanding its value and meaning. Horror due to the senseless death of people in war or in disasters affects a person only at first, then becoming everyday “information” that does not evoke axiological reflection and empathy.

Able to mass society, where detachment and coldness in relationships turn out to be the normal initial state, humanism, like freedom, in many ways turn out to be catalysts for egocentrism. But even awareness of one’s importance in front of others is not the basis for love of life, since the latter is the result of the experience of awareness of belonging to the world.

Another very significant feature of the ideological guidelines and values ​​of the twentieth century is related to the integration and globalization of the world and culture. Two last century turned out to be a special stage in the development of mankind, when open confrontation and mutual influence of traditional and innovative models of civilization took place.

Influence traditional methods perception of the world has become external factor, promoting transformation Western thinking. The spiritual “elite”, through its own involvement in these traditions, has a significant influence on modern science, philosophy, and worldview in general. Claiming that “God is dead,” followers of nihilism and existentialism increasingly came to the conclusion that the blind, meaningless world in its original state is filled with suffering. Only he himself can change the current situation of a person, while accepting full responsibility for the choice made. Such sentiments are the basis for belief in supreme liberation. Western tradition states in this case only the absence of meaning in being and spiritual foundation. The existence of a person in such a situation becomes much more tragic than the most “pessimistic” of all types of worldviews. However, tragedy in the European understanding has always been a way of purification and liberation from the inessential and external, which is why this concept has found such a wide response in the hearts of people.

The most important feature of the modern era is globalization as the leveling, leveling and averaging of forms of existence and understanding of the world, bringing both an undoubted benefit (increasing the standard of living of the poorest peoples) and irreparable losses. The latter consist of a final break with one's own roots, unique cultural priorities and values. Forgetting the spirit of the past means the weakness of the present, just as the loss of individuality means going into emptiness.

The discord in the system of ideological attitudes intensifies the crisis of previous values ​​and ideals, which gives scope to the “game of creativity,” now moving in a variety of directions.

The world, perceived as a stream of constant changes that have no intrinsic value and do not bind a person with such strong ties as relations of property, power, management, education, is increasingly assessed by Westerners as temporary, unstable, and without foundation. Therefore, finding happiness, harmony, peace or pleasure in this option does not deny, but presupposes a strengthening of the personal principle. Constant changes in feelings, a tendency to migrate, travel, change places of life and work, profession, family, friends, social circles are becoming more and more characteristic of modern man, not only in America, but also in Europe, large cities of Russia and Ukraine. Traditional priorities are still typical for agricultural areas, where “settled life” is a condition of life.

What are the aspirations of the modern technogenic, information, super-industrial society? Its subject strives, first of all, for the changes themselves and for rapid adaptation to them. On the other hand, it is characterized by the desire to possess more and more information in order to achieve freedom from erroneous actions and pressure from the outside world. Power and wealth as values ​​“become obsolete” due to the transience of changes in reality. In this regard, the spiritual (volitional, intellectual, mystical) abilities of individuals and peace are likely to be significant for strengthening their own potential. The “unrooted” state of the individual, for which home, work, family become changeable, changing factors, contributes to the use of the individual’s internal energy in the non-material sphere, which will increasingly be perceived not as serving, but as paramount. What may be dangerous in this situation is not a break with everyday life and familiar things, but a denial of the significance of connections with other people. Modern man He does not avoid contacts and communication; on the contrary, he is very communicative and constantly changes friends and acquaintances. However, the nature of these relationships can no longer be defined in terms of “love” or “friendship”. Denial of the value of the Other inevitably leads to self-disintegration and degradation. Being isolated on one’s own personality causes a limit to self-development, since spiritual life does not find a way out or enrichment. Options for the development of such a situation may be the degradation of spirituality against the background of growth of physical and intellectual sphere or strengthening the desire for higher supra-individual forces, which involve the actualization of the spirit. Based on this, a new differentiation of society will be built, the basis of which will not be the attitude to property or communication, but the attitude to reality and its assessment. The crisis of faith that accompanied the twentieth century will probably end with a new appeal of man to higher powers(as the embodiment of completeness of information) in an even more individualized version than before. The weakening of social ties, the opportunity to actively live, work, and engage in creativity without the support of clan, clan, family, friends, will inevitably contribute to the development of a feeling of loneliness and the search for a way out of it. The solution will be either a global information network connecting the intellects of individuals, or a transcendental spiritual landmark connecting the super-rational levels of their consciousness.

Thus, the axiological picture of the modern world is characterized by a multiplicity of forms, fragmentation, intensification subjective factor against the backdrop of liberalism and the assertion of value freedom.

At the same time, the trends in the evolution of the values ​​of the innovative, technogenic world turned out to be more consonant than ever before with some of the values ​​of the traditional Eastern worldview. This was expressed not in the desire for traditionality or harmony, but in overcoming dependence on material existence, in the perception of the world as a stream of changes, connections with which only interfere with self-development. Surveys conducted among university students show that love and friendship are named as the main values ​​by only 5% of respondents (in total, more than 500 people took part in the study)

The main trend in the spiritual development of innovative civilization is the movement from the formation of Value to its affirmation as Self-Value. In this regard, it is legitimate to highlight the following main stages in the spiritual history of this civilization: Antiquity - the era of the intrinsic value of Freedom; The Middle Ages - the era of denial of the spirit of Innovation, the affirmation of Tradition; Renaissance is the era of the intrinsic value of Anthropocentrism and Humanism; New time is the era of the intrinsic value of Rationality; The 20th century is the era of establishing the unity of all basic innovative values ​​and their maximum development. The implementation of ideological guidelines and development values ​​has at the same time posed the task of searching and justifying new civilizational priorities, taking into account the contradictions of society and the natural environment.

An analysis of the classical guidelines for the development of innovative civilization shows that the affirmation of the values ​​of freedom, humanism, anthropocentrism, rational knowledge, and innovation contribute to strengthening the dynamics internal development this type of society. A person’s desire to translate these values ​​into reality underlies creative, transformative, constructive and destructive activities, causing new qualitative shifts in the consistent process of general variability of social existence. Values, being meaningful goals of life, not only arise under the influence of historical conditions of development, but in turn actively influence them. If the values ​​of traditional and homeostatic societies are largely formed in accordance with being, then the values ​​of the innovative world appear “above being” or “before being” (W. Frankl). Homeostatic societies are generally focused on the present, traditional societies are focused on the past, and the innovative world is focused on the future. This explains the uniqueness of the axiological picture of humanity. The values ​​that are formed from being contribute to its maintenance and conservation; the values ​​of the past contribute to the transformation of inner being in order not to depend on changing reality. Values ​​that express the desire for the future contribute to the active transformation of external existence, its qualitative transformation as the subject’s demands grow.

The approval and implementation of the leading value priorities of the innovative world indicate the “eternal dissatisfaction” of a person with civilization, therefore any stage of the development of society will be assessed critically. The most complete embodiment of values ​​into reality turns out to be a transition to their opposite. Therefore, the modern world has largely abandoned classical values ​​and paradigms.

When making important life choices and actions, a person can rely on his ideas about “due” and “fair,” but if he is not confident in his ideas, then he inevitably turns to similar ideas that have developed in culture, in particular, to “universal human values.” "

However, it is very difficult to say clearly and understandably what exactly “universal human values” are. We have repeatedly asked a similar question to various student audiences and have not always heard clear answers from students. We admit that we asked some of our colleagues, psychology teachers, about this and received approximately the same vague answers, sometimes more, and sometimes even less “confident.”

The following approaches to understanding “universal human values” can be roughly distinguished:

1. Religious approach. For example, many people know the saying: “Christian commandments are the basis of universal human values.” Naturally, no one denies the role of Christianity in the formation of modern European-American culture. But, firstly, few people really know these commandments (we have also encountered this more than once in various student audiences), and secondly, what about representatives of other religious faiths and atheists?

2. Legal approach based on documents adopted and signed by many countries: “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, “Convention on the Rights of the Child”, etc. But few people know these documents (especially in modern Russia). And few people know that in " Universal Declaration human rights" in Art. 23, paragraph 2 states: “Every person, without any discrimination, is guaranteed equal pay for equal work,” but they have already managed to convince us that a teacher should earn tens and even hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of times less, than some nosy “shareholder” of a former national enterprise. Unfortunately, many rights in such documents remain pure declarations, that is, they cannot be considered real universal values.

3. Highlighting different levels human needs(for example, in the version proposed by A. Maslow). But often the highest levels of needs associated with the ideals of goodness, beauty, truth, justice and self-improvement (self-actualization) are completely indifferent to most people. They are more concerned about simple, understandable and useful things in life, and higher needs are only for a select few. Therefore, this approach does not meet the aspirations of most people, that is, it cannot be considered “universal.”

4. The identification of the “primary good”, which largely determines life’s “success” and the feeling of a “fulfilled life”, is self-esteem (see Rawls, 1995). This feeling is based on the principle of motivation (or the “Aristotelian principle”, reflected by him in the “Nicomathean Ethics”, in books 7 and 10), when “other than equal conditions human beings derive pleasure from the exercise of their abilities (innate and acquired), and this pleasure increases with the growth of these abilities or their complexity” (Rawls, 1995. - P. 373). Self-esteem, self-respect includes two aspects: the first is a person’s feeling of his own importance, his firm conviction that his concept of his own good, life plan deserves implementation (this presupposes the possession of a rational life plan, which would satisfy the "Aristotelian principle", the conviction that our personality and our affairs are appreciated and approved by other people who are also respected, and the association with which brings satisfaction) and the second - confidence in one's own abilities (although people have different abilities, in an orderly society, for every person there should be at least one association where he could realize his abilities and be appreciated, therefore, in public life it is necessary to avoid judging whose life is more valuable, otherwise the dignity of some groups of the population or individuals will always be infringed).

All this is achieved through a social (rational) contract, based not on the idea of ​​“universal brotherhood and love,” which can only be realized by the Lord God Himself (only he is capable of loving all of humanity), but on the idea of ​​coordinating the divergent interests of people and inevitable compromises (see . Rawls, 1975. - pp. 385–386).

5. Attempts to highlight universal human values ​​based on the idea of ​​professional and personal self-determination and searching for the main meaning of your work and your whole life. Klimov E. A. identified the following universal human values:

1) constant improvement, reproduction of one’s own kind (including care for health, motherhood and childhood, as well as environmental protection);

2) improvement of the objective world, creation of new means of production, expansion of the range of goods and services, constant improvement of their quality);

3) respect for the individual characteristics of everyone, improvement of society based on ideas social justice, development of legal systems and bringing them closer to the interests and aspirations of people;

4) mutual enrichment, mutual exchange of acquired experience and felt feelings, development of means of communication between people, as well as improvement of means of introducing a person to Culture (including the development of psychological and pedagogical sciences) (see Klimov, 1994).

Unfortunately, how far many people are from these goals, but E. A. Klimov at least outlined the vector of further development.

One can roughly formulate the main ethical guideline not only for a self-determining individual, but also for a psychologist trying to help him in such a situation. difficult matter- this is the cultivation of everyone’s right to build their own unique image of happiness, but a right that does not infringe on the same rights of other people. It should be noted that many ethical Codes and Charters emphasize “the primacy of the client’s interests.” We believe that it is necessary to add to this the interests of those people with whom the client enters into real relationships and through whose interests and dignity our client could solve his problems. Otherwise, we will help some people (“our” clients) and infringe on the same rights of other people who, for various reasons, did not become “our” clients or patients... At the same time, it is especially important that the conscience of the psychologist himself does not suffer, so that later he was not ashamed of the fact that he did not so much help a person to self-determinate, but simply manipulated him.

But at the same time, the most difficult problems in the implementation of such a guideline are immediately revealed. Firstly, many self-determining people take a passive, consumer position and simply wait for a psychologist to tell them how to act in certain situations. Secondly, many psychologists gladly accept such a role (“wise adviser”) and do not even try to solve a more complex task - to activate creativity the most self-determining individual. Finally, thirdly, all this is getting worse " market relations”, which often involves a psychologist-consultant (seller of a service) and a client (buyer of a service, acting on the principle: “Since I paid you, then you simply have to solve my problem”). We have already talked about the problem of paying for psychological services.

Let’s conclude with Erik Erikson’s phrase: “Act towards another person in a way that gives strength to you and to him...”.

NON-STATE EDUCATIONAL AUTONOMOUS
NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION “INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS AND POLITICS”

FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY

Department of Psychology and Pedagogy

by discipline

"ETHICS OF PSYCHOLOGY"
On topic
“The problem of universal human values ​​in the activities of a psychologist”

Compiled by a 4th year student of full-time and part-time study in the second-higher education program
Esipov Alexey Stanislavovich

Moscow
2012
.

Introduction
The problem of universal human values ​​in the activities of a psychologist obviously goes beyond code of ethics psychologist, because it is a somewhat amorphous, clearly unformed concept, which, however, is used as some kind of absolute value and often not with good intentions.
The purpose of the essay is to reveal and show the problematic factors that arise in connection with this concept in the work of a psychologist.
The plan of the essay is to define universal human values. Show their ontology and practice of use in the ideological field of society. See their connection and relationship with the ethical code of the psychologist and the moral principles of the psychologist himself and his patient. Draw a conclusion about the role, significance, and correlation of OC in the work of a psychologist as a problematic component.

Definition of the concept of universal human values

GENERAL HUMAN VALUES are a system of axiological maxims, the content of which is not directly related to a specific historical period in the development of society or a specific ethnic tradition, but, filling each sociocultural tradition with its own specific meaning, is nevertheless reproduced in any type of culture as a value. Problem O.Ts. dramatically resumes in eras of social catastrophism: the predominance of destructive processes in politics, disintegration of social institutions, devaluation of moral values ​​and the search for civilized sociocultural choices. At the same time, the fundamental value at all times of human history has been life itself and the problem of its preservation and development in natural and cultural forms. The variety of approaches to the study of O.Ts. gives rise to a multiplicity of their classifications according to various criteria. In connection with the structure of being, natural (inorganic and organic nature, minerals) and cultural values ​​(freedom, creativity, love, communication, activity) are noted. According to the personality structure, values ​​are biopsychological (health) and spiritual. According to the forms of spiritual culture, values ​​are classified into moral (the meaning of life and happiness, goodness, duty, responsibility, conscience, honor, dignity), aesthetic (beautiful, sublime), religious (faith), scientific (truth), political (peace, justice, democracy), legal (law and order). In connection with the object-subject nature of the value relationship, one can note objective (results of human activity), subjective (attitudes, assessments, imperatives, norms, goals) values. In general, the polyphony of O.Ts. gives rise to the convention of their classification. Each historical era and specific ethnic group express themselves in a hierarchy of values ​​that determine what is socially acceptable. Value systems are in development and their time scales do not coincide with sociocultural reality. In the modern world, the moral and aesthetic values ​​of antiquity, the humanistic ideals of Christianity, the rationalism of the New Age, and the paradigm of non-violence of the 20th century are significant. and many more Dr. O.Ts. form value orientations as priorities for the sociocultural development of ethnic groups or individuals, fixed by social practice or human life experience. Among the latter, there are value orientations towards family, education, work, social activities, and other areas of human self-affirmation. In the modern era of global changes, the absolute values ​​of goodness, beauty, truth and faith acquire special importance as the fundamental foundations of the corresponding forms of spiritual culture, presupposing harmony, measure, balance of the integral world of man and his constructive life affirmation in culture. And, since the current sociocultural dimension is determined today not so much by existence as by its change, goodness, beauty, truth and faith mean not so much adherence to absolute values ​​as their search and acquisition. Among O.Ts. it is necessary to specifically highlight the moral values ​​that traditionally represent the generally significant in its relationship with the ethnonational and individual. In universal human morality, some common forms of community life are preserved, and the continuity of moral requirements associated with the simplest forms of human relationships is noted. The Biblical moral commandments are of enduring importance: the Old Testament Ten Commandments of Moses and the New Testament Sermon on the Mount of Jesus Christ. The form of presenting a moral demand, associated with the ideals of humanism, justice and personal dignity, is also universal in morality. (Gritsanov A.A. “Newest philosophical dictionary", 1999.)
As we see, the definition is quite amorphous and multi-component. The author of the article did not answer the question about the conditions, the purpose of the emergence of this concept and the methods of its practical application, which can be essential.

Factors of influence

In connection with the intended goal, we are interested in a more practical question about the influence of this concept on the activities of a psychologist.
First of all, you need to be aware that people who have not read this article, as a rule, have the most general ideas expressed with doubt and uncertainty. Therefore, there are three main factors in this problem. The first factor is the System of Moral Values ​​(SMV) of the psychologist himself, the second is the SMV of the patient, and these so-called OCs. So these are the problems in their relationship with each other, which can, one way or another, influence the effectiveness of the psychologist’s work. We understand that all these factors may not coincide with each other and may even contradict each other. OC is generally an amorphous concept that can be demagogically interpreted depending on who evaluates and for what purpose this or that situation, depending on their SMC, therefore the appeal to OC often bears the imprint of the SMC of the person himself or the ideological attitude of society.

Conditions of occurrence, purpose and practical application OC

People who have suffered from such “humanism” of the proclaimers of the OC may well turn to a psychologist with their problems. So the policy of the authorities in the formation factor is one thing public consciousness, another matter personal relationship to such an interpretation of the OC of this or that client and the psychologist himself. Therefore, OCs are most likely, in essence, imprinted in the ethical code of certain psychological associations, in the moral aspect of this concept, and the psychologist simply focuses on them as a legal framework, and he himself is guided by his SMC, trying not to come into conflict with code if there is a discrepancy somewhere.
The same is with the client, if the client tries to use the psychologist in activities that are contrary to the ethical code, he must understand that such exists, despite his different SMC. And in similar situations that arise, the psychologist is obliged to convey this to the client’s consciousness.
We must be aware that not every psychologist and not every client can fit into the OC system and agree with it, and it can different situations himself go beyond the ethical code of a psychologist in the appropriate interpretation. This is especially true in cases of an imposed understanding of tolerance within a given system, examples of which I gave above. Thus, the problem of OC lies in moral attitudes and moral choice both the psychologist and the client and can go beyond the legal field in certain situations.
As we see, OC as an ideological component can be an important factor shaping both personal attitudes and the conditions and lifestyle of the client and psychologist and therefore should be taken into account as a possible problematic factor.