• What are moral standards?
• Examples of moral norms
• Moral norms and legal norms
• Other types of standards

We explain what moral standards are, with examples. In addition, its differences with legal norms and other types of norms.

Moral norms are promoted and defended by society itself.

What are moral standards?

The moral standards are those with which the society is regulated in matters of nature moral, that is, they allow us to determine what things are good, just, desirable, and what are not. Is about rules from conduct of content ethical, which are promoted and defended by the same society: public opinion, habit, social pressure, etc.

It is important to understand that in matters of morality, the historic context and cultural is decisive. That is, the moral considerations of one society may differ from those of another, or from those that the same society professed in past times. Morality is a social, cultural and historical construction that has a lot to do with tradition and values of a spiritual and political nature.

Examples of moral norms

The following are examples of moral standards:

• We all have exactly the same right to live.
• We must not lie or cheat on others, especially loved ones.
• It is not okay to take advantage of a helpless or desperate person.
• Once we have given our word on an issue, we must deliver on what we promised.
• We must honor our parents and the elderly.
• With great power you also get great responsibility.
• The property of others is not at our free disposal.
• It is not okay to coerce or force other people to do something they don't want to do, for their own benefit.
• Respect for the other must prevail in social relationships.
• The honesty It is one of the highest values ​​of the human being.
• It is okay to show compassion for the one who suffers.
• We must help others to lift their cross, but not carry it for them.
• We should not meddle in the love relationships of others.
• It is not okay to treat others like disposable objects.
• Children must be preserved in their innocence as much as possible.
• The selfishness and meanness are defects that make people ugly.
• Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to the people what belongs to the people.
• The collective welfare almost always takes precedence over the individual welfare.
• We should treat others as we would like to be treated.
• It is not okay to talk about others behind their back.
• We must take into account the feelings of others.
• The more we have, the more we can share with those in need.
• We must treat animals with respect, especially those who feel and suffer like us.
• The greatest commitment of any society must be with future generations.
• Indulgences should not be earned with someone else's scapular.
• The memory of the ancestors must be honored.
• It is not okay to have sex without the express consent of the other person or with someone who is not in a position to give it.
• We must always give the preferential seat to disabled, elderly or pregnant people.
• A foreign secret must never be revealed to third parties.
• Parents must always provide what is necessary for their children and take charge of their guardianship.
• We must be grateful to those who have done us good and always be willing to give it back.
• The family it must be above all.
• If a bad action is committed, we must apologize to the affected person and repair the damage caused.
• It's okay to be courteous to strangers.
• It is not okay to judge others before we meet, regardless of their background, race, sex or religion.
• Humanity must bond with itself in a fraternal way.
• The Liberty it is the supreme value of life.

Moral norms and legal norms

While moral standards and legal norms They form the set of rules with which a society regulates itself, these two types of norms differ in their operation and their nature. Moral norms, as we saw, respond to social and cultural considerations about good and evil, right and wrong, right and wrong, and society itself proposes and defends them, through social pressure and of tradition itself.

On the other hand, legal norms distinguish between what is illegal and what is lawful, that is, what constitutes a crime and what not, and the Condition is in charge of enforcing them. This can be summarized as follows:

Moral standards	Legal norms
They serve to differentiate the good from the bad, the just from the unjust or, in any case, the desirable from the undesirable in human behavior.	They serve to differentiate what is allowed from what is prohibited, or in any case to impose rights and obligations.
They are fostered by society informally, through tradition, group pressure or moral sanction.	They are promoted by the State in a formal and positive way, and are included in legal texts of public knowledge.
They depend on the Social context, cultural and religious of the society, reason why they can change significantly from one place to another, or from one era to another.	They depend on the legal context of society, which although it has historical and discursive relationships with morality, constitutes a world apart. For this reason, changes in legal norms are made by consensus and convention, officially.

Other types of standards

In addition to moral and legal norms, there are other types of norms, such as:

• Religious norms, coming from spiritual discourses and that have the function of regulating human behavior based on the divine mandate (the mandates of God). For example, him Judaism and the Islam prohibit the intake of pork, considering it an impure animal.
• Social norms or tag, they are protocols of "polite" or "correct" behavior that facilitate understanding between Humans. For example: the handshake is considered in the West a standard gesture of formal and respectful greeting.
• Grammatical norms, are those norms that govern each idiom, so that everyone who speaks it is forced to handle a similar set of rules, and there can be understanding. For example, in Spanish the verb must always correspond to the sentence subject.
• House Rules, are those that a community in a certain place, in favor of the peaceful cohabitation of people, and that are only valid within that space. For example, in a public swimming pool you have to respect the schedules, use the showers before and after swimming and use the appropriate swimsuit and hat.