By values we mean those essential ideas or principles by which all right and wrong choices are guided . Values identify what is good and distinguish the good from the bad. Good is that which we act to achieve, gain, or keep. Bad is that which we act to avoid, eliminate, or loose. Values are a hierarchical system by which the good is identified in relationship to a highest good or ideal.
Values are both relative and absolute.
Values are relative in the sense that to be good, something must be good to someone for something . There is no such thing as intrinsic good. Values are absolute in the sense that the relationships that determine what is good and bad are inexorably dictated by reality . In abstract terms, values are determined by the requirements of our nature and how our nature relates to the nature of all reality. In plain terms, values describe what is good for the kind of beings we are living in the kind of world we live in.