Who Decides What Is Right?

A noticeable shift in values is taking place around us. Generation Z is questioning many assumptions that earlier generations accepted as established traditions and conventions. Ideas about work, success, authority, relationships, identity and social responsibility are being viewed differently now. Generation Alpha is emerging into an even more digitally connected world, shaped by technologies and experiences that previous generations could scarcely have imagined.

Every generation inherits a worldview from those before it, but also reshapes it in response to the world it inhabits. Some beliefs lose their relevance, some are reinterpreted and new ones emerge. This does not necessarily signify moral decline. It may simply be part of how human societies evolve.

But this raises a fundamental question: who decides what is right?

More than a century ago, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche confronted this question through his provocative declaration, “God is dead.” He was not asserting that God does not exist. He was pointing to the weakening of an established source of certainty that had provided society with a foundation for morality, meaning and purpose.

Nietzsche's concern was that if people no longer believed in God as the source of moral authority, could they continue to accept traditional values simply because they had inherited them? Or would those values too need to be questioned and re-examined?

Importantly, the decline of religious belief does not mean the disappearance of values. People who do not believe in God can and do live by deeply held principles such as honesty, compassion, justice and human dignity. Nietzsche's deeper question was not whether human beings could have values without God, but what gives those values their authority when a traditional religious foundation is no longer accepted.

This question becomes particularly relevant as generations change. The values of Gen Z may differ from those of their parents, just as Gen Alpha may develop priorities that seem unfamiliar to Gen Z. Each generation encounters different circumstances, knowledge and possibilities, and these inevitably influence what it considers important.

Yet beneath these changing values lies something more enduring: the human search for meaning. We want our lives to matter. We seek purpose, connection and a sense that what we do is worthwhile. The meaning we give to life influences what we value, and those values influence how we live.

This enquiry is not unfamiliar to Indian philosophical thought. The Upanishadic tradition, for instance, is rooted in questioning fundamental assumptions about the self, reality and the purpose of existence. Rather than simply accepting inherited answers, it repeatedly turns the seeker towards enquiry and deeper understanding. The questions may take different forms across time, but the impulse to enquire into how we should live remains remarkably constant.

Some values also seem to transcend particular generations and cultures. Love, compassion, kindness, care and respect for others appear repeatedly in human societies, even though their expression and interpretation may change. They may therefore reflect enduring dimensions of human life rather than belonging exclusively to any one moral or religious system.

Nietzsche, however, went further. He challenged the assumption that values should be accepted merely because tradition has sanctioned them. He called for a revaluation of values and for individuals to take greater responsibility for examining what they consider worth pursuing. His concern was that when established certainties collapse, people may drift into nihilism, the belief that life has no inherent meaning or value.

The challenge, therefore, is not to preserve every inherited value simply because it is old, nor to reject everything inherited simply because it is old. It is to examine what we have received, understand why we value it, retain what continues to serve human flourishing and remain open to new insights.

This continuing evolution of values is what makes Nietzsche relevant to a world in which generations are changing so rapidly. Values will continue to evolve as human circumstances evolve. What matters is whether that evolution is conscious and thoughtful, or merely reactive.

The question “Who decides what is right?” may never have one final answer. Religious traditions, cultures, societies, families and individuals will continue to influence our understanding of right and wrong. But perhaps maturity lies in not surrendering that responsibility entirely to any one of them.

We can listen to what we have inherited without being imprisoned by it. We can question without becoming cynical, and change without abandoning what is deeply human.

Generations will come and go, and their values will continue to change. What may endure is not any particular set of answers, but our capacity to enquire, to find meaning and to choose consciously how we live.

The real question is not simply who decides what is right, but whether we are conscious enough to understand why we believe something is right.