Question

Who determines moral values? What seems ethical and proper to me may seem unethical and improper to someone else. In my view, it is not proper to vote for a party whose leader is a criminal. In the view of many other people—quite a few of whom, I assume, are ethical and moral people—it is proper to vote for that same party. Is there a single objective standard by which one can determine what is moral and proper? And who says that I’m right and the other person is not? Is there even such a thing as more right or less right in morality? Suppose there were no halakhic prohibition against stealing, and someone asked me whether I would steal money from someone. I said of course not. Then they asked me: if the richest person in the world were to lose a sum of 10,000 shekels, and you had the option either to take it for yourself or return it to him, what would you do? I said I would take it for myself. He would never know about it, and even if he did know, it would make no difference to him. So does the fact that I think I wouldn’t need to return it make me less moral than someone who would return it?