Moral Development & Moral Reasoning

Moral Development & Moral Reasoning

As people mature, they change their values in very deep and profound (thoughtful) ways. The ability to make reasoned moral judgments develops in identifiable stages (Kohlberg).

Moral Development & Moral Reasoning

Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning is a stage theory. In other words, everyone goes through the stages sequentially without skipping any stage. However, movement through these stages are not natural, that is people do not automatically move from one stage to the next as they mature. In stage development, movement is effected when cognitive (connected with thinking or conscious mental processes:) dissonance (difference) occurs ... that is when a person notices inadequacies (insufficiency) in his or her present way of coping with a given moral dilemma. 3

Stages of Moral Development

Level One: Pre-conventional Morality Stage 1: Punishment-Obedience Orientation Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation

Level Two: Conventional Morality

Stage 3: Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation

Level Three: Post-Conventional Morality

Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation

Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle Orientation

I. Pre-conventional Level
At this level, the child is responsive to cultural rules and labels of good and bad, right or wrong, but he interprets the labels in terms of either the physical or hedonistic consequences of action (punishment, reward, exchange of favors) or the physical power of those who speak the rules and labels. Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience Orientation The physical consequences of action determine its goodness or badness regardless of the human meaning or value of these consequences. Avoidance of punishment and unquestioning respect to power are values in their own right, not in terms of respect for an underlying moral order supported by punishment and authority

Stage 2: Instrument and Relativity Orientation At this stage, right actions become those that can serve as instruments for satisfying the childs needs or the needs of those for whom the child cares. Elements of fairness, reciprocity, and equal sharing are present, but they are always interpreted in a physical, pragmatic way 5

II. Conventional Level

Maintaining the expectations of ones own family, peer group, or nation is now seen as valuable in its own right, regardless of the consequences. Stage 3: Interpersonal Concordance Orientation Good behavior at this early conventional stage is living to the expectations of those for whom one feel loyalty, affection, and trust, such as family and friends. Stage 4: The "law and order" orientation. The individual is oriented toward authority, fixed rules, and the maintenance of the social order. Right behavior consists in doing one's duty, showing respect for authority, and maintaining the given social order for its own sake.
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III. Post-Conventional, Autonomous, or Principled Level.

The individual makes a clear effort to define moral values and principles that have validity and application apart from the authority of the groups of persons holding them and apart from the individual's own identification with the group. The level has the two following stages: Stage 5: The social-contract legalistic orientation Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society. There is a clear awareness of the relativism of personal values and opinions and a corresponding emphasis upon procedural rules for reaching consensus. Aside from what is constitutionally and democratically agreed upon, right action is a matter of personal values and opinions. The result is an emphasis upon the "legal point of view", but with an additional emphasis upon the possibility of changing the law in terms of rational considerations of social utility (rather than freezing it in terms of stage 4 "law and order").
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III. Post-Conventional, Autonomous, or Principled Level.

Stage 6: The universal ethical-principle orientation. Right is defined by the decision of conscience in accord with self-chosen ethical principles that appeal to logical comprehensiveness, universality, and consistency. These principles are abstract and ethical (the Golden Rule, the categorical imperative); they are not concrete moral rules like the Ten Commandments. At heart, these are universal principles of justice, of the reciprocity, and equality of the human rights, and of respect for the dignity of human beings as individual persons.
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Moral reasoning
Refers to the reasoning process by which human behaviors, institutions, or policies are judged to be in accordance with or in violation of moral standards. Moral reasoning always involves two essential components: An understanding of what reasonable moral standards require, prohibit, value, or condemn; and Evidence or information that shows that a particular person, policy, institution, or behavior has the kinds of features that these moral standards require, prohibit, value, or condemn.
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Moral reasoning
First and primarily, moral reasoning must be logical. All the unspoken moral and factual assumptions must be made explicit, and both assumptions and premises be displayed and subject to criticism. Second, the factual evidence quoted in support of a persons judgment must be accurate (comprehensively shared), relevant, and complete. Third, the moral standards involved in a persons moral reasoning must be consistent. The consistency requirement is the basis of an important method of showing that a given moral standard must be modified or rejected: the use of counter examples or hypotheticals.
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MORAL REASONING

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