Glossary
Universal Values: Definition, Examples, and Daily Use
What are universal values?
Universal values are principles described as relevant to everyone, or values said to be recognized across cultures. These are two different claims: what people ought to uphold, and what people actually value.
A shared value vocabulary does not mean everyone assigns the same priorities or agrees about every moral question. People can both value fairness and disagree about what fairness requires.
Universal Values vs. Personal Values
A universal ethical claim says a principle should apply to everyone. A personal value describes what matters to an individual. Cross-cultural research asks which value patterns appear across the populations studied. Keep these meanings separate when making a claim.
Examples of Universal Values in Ethical Discussion
Justice
Justice concerns fairness, rights, and how benefits and burdens are distributed. People may appeal to it while disagreeing about whether equal treatment, need, or contribution should take priority.
Compassion
Compassion concerns responding to suffering with care. Calling it a universal ideal is an ethical position, not a finding that every person acts compassionately.
Respect for life
Respect for life concerns the value assigned to living beings. People and traditions differ about its scope and how to resolve conflicts involving harm.
Integrity
Integrity concerns honesty and consistency with one's principles. It raises a practical question: do the choices match the commitments?
A Short Primer on Schwartz Value Theory
Schwartz's 2012 overview describes basic personal values as a structure of compatible and competing motivations. Cross-cultural evidence supports recurring value categories while showing substantial differences in people's priorities.
A refined theory published by Schwartz and colleagues in 2012 distinguishes 19 values along a motivational continuum. Its initial evaluation used 15 samples from 10 countries. This concerns the organization and measurement of values, rather than unanimous agreement about moral principles.
How Values Shape Real Decisions
A disagreement between security and openness to change does not mean one person has values and the other does not. It may mean they prioritize different things.
In a hypothetical workplace decision, one person may favor a stable, familiar process while another favors trying something new. Naming the priorities can make the disagreement clearer. It does not decide which option best serves the actual goal.
Exercise: Identify Your Top Five Values
- Use the site's list of values to select five that seem important to you.
- For each, name a recent choice in which it mattered.
- Look for two values that could conflict in an upcoming decision.
- Describe what each would favor and why.
- Reconsider the list if your examples do not match your initial choices.
This is a reflection exercise, not a validated measurement instrument. A ranked list can help start a discussion without being a complete description of who you are.
Why it matters
Values become useful when connected to actual choices. Be clear about whether you are making an ethical argument, describing a personal priority, or reporting a pattern in research.