Morality
The notion “morality” is the specific sphere of culture in which the high ideals and strict norms are concentrated and summarized. They are regulating the behavior and the consciousness of a person in various spheres of the social life.
The “rectitude” is the principles of the real practical behavior of people in which the strictness of the high moral norms is significantly softened; it means that more “everyday” and “down-to-earth” meaning is put in the given notion.
As for the matter of the morality’s origin, there is a row of the points of view: 1) naturalistic approach – the morality is inherent to the person from the nature and it is the result of the biological development; 2) theological approach – morality is granted to the person by God; 3) sociological approach – morality appears in the process of the historical development of the society along with the law, politics and it reflects different sociologically-economic interests of people; 4) culturological approach – morality is the one of the culture elements which are regulating the social behavior of a person.
There are very important functions of the morality in society. They are: 1) regulatory – the regulation of the person’s behavior in all spheres of the social life; 2) value-orientation – the affirmation of the “human” in the person as the morality is the life guideline in which the person’s aim for self-perfection is represented; 3) motivational – the moral principles are motivating the human behavior; they act as the reasons and motives which provoke the human’s wish to do something (or, on the contrary, not to do). And this is the formation of the moral appearance of the personality. 4) constitutive – the moral principles predominate over all other forms of regulation of the people’s behavior. Immorality is inadmissible, nowhere. 5) coordinating – providing of the unity and coordination of the people’s interaction in various circumstances. Observance of the single and universal moral principles by people, makes their behavior predictable and this has a huge meaning in the organization of the collective life of the people.
The person’s ability to define independently the behavior line in society without everyday external control, plays a special role in the moral regulation, adapting only with the conscience, honor and self-esteem.
The moral culture is in the person’s ability and skill to follow adequately the principles of morality in the changing circumstances.
