The commonality of responses here adds weight to the argument that there is a fairly universal global ethic, within which individuals select various philosophical principles. The most powerful source of authority for knowing right from wrong is personal experience. These participants ranked ethical self-reliance far ahead of a reliance on God's word, science, or government. This finding may suggest hubris. But given that respondents from all backgrounds, educational levels, and religions chose personal experience, it may signal a conviction that ethics must be made personal, tangible, and experiential, instead of being determined by scientific logic, clerical advice, or governmental policy.
Television is generally unsuitable for providing moral instruction.
That finding held true across nationalities, genders, age, education levels, and choices of core values. The need, now, is for further global values research to test these hypotheses. If so, further work on global values is surely worth undertaking. Support the work of the Institute for Global Ethics by becoming a member . Sign our guest book and receive a free Institute for Global Ethics bookmark.