Download Lawrence Kohlberg

Moral Dilemma Approach
• Write the alternatives you think a person
has in making his/her decision about the
dilemma and the possible consequences
each alternative might have.
Alternative 1: _______________
Consequence: _______________
Consequence: _______________
Alternative 2: _______________
Consequence: _______________
Consequence: _______________
Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987)
• Harvard University professor of
developmental psychology, later moved
to the field of moral education
•His theory of moral development was dependent
on the thinking of the Swiss child psychologist
Jean Piaget and the American philosopher and
educator John Dewey
• These men emphasized that human beings
develop philosophically and psychologically in a
progressive fashion.
Hierarchical order of morality
FIRST LEVEL [Preconventional]
Stage 1: defer to authority (obedience and
punishment) {Simple Authority Orientation}
People behave to socially acceptable norms
because they are told to do so by some
authority figure (parent, teacher). This
obedience is compelled by the threat or
application of punishment. (soldiers carrying
out orders under threat of punishment)
Stage 2: satisfy own needs {Instrumental
Relativist}
Right behavior means acting in one’s own
best interests; satisfies one's own needs
and occasionally the needs of others
(People are valued in terms of their utility)
•“You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”
•Justice: “Do unto others as they do unto
you”
Relativism
Most often associated with an empirical*
thesis that there are deep and widespread
moral disagreements and that the truth or
justification of moral judgments is not
absolute, but relative to some group of
persons.
*verifiable or provable by means of observation or
experiment
SECOND LEVEL [Conventional Morality]
Stage 3: {Interpersonal Concordance}
seek others’ approval by conforming to
stereotypes
(“good boy/good girl”) Examples?
-conformity to the behavioral expectations of
one's society or peers
Stage 4: {Law and Order}
individual is oriented toward authority, fixed
rules, and the maintenance of the social
order
This stage is marked by obeying laws,
respecting authority, and performing one’s
duties so that the social order is
maintained.
THIRD LEVEL [Post Conventional]
Stage 5: {Social Contract and Individual Rights}
a good society is best conceived as a social
contract into which people freely enter to work
toward the benefit of all
*Considers the rights and values that a society
should uphold
*Contractual, legalistic orientation but laws can be
changed for the benefit of society
(belief that rational people want certain basic rights
– liberty and life – and want democratic
procedures for changing unfair laws and
improving society)
Stage 6*: {Ethical Principle}
*more of a theoretical stage
• Individual acts out of universal principles
based on the equality and worth of all human
beings.
• These principles are abstract and ethical (the
Golden Rule, the “categorical imperative”)
(see Kant)
• Orientation to principles above social rules
Immanuel Kant
• The philosophical concept of a
categorical imperative is central to the
moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. In his
philosophy, it indicates an absolute,
unconditional requirement that allows no
exceptions, and is both required and
justified as an end in itself, not as a means
to some other end.
• Individuals progress through stages one at
a time; there is no jumping from one stage
to another
• Like Piaget, Kohlberg believed that most
moral development occurs through social
interaction.
Carol Gilligan (1936 - )
• Earned her doctorate in
social psychology from Harvard
University
•research assistant for Lawrence
Kohlberg
•Her criticisms of Kohlberg’s sex-biased theory
were published in her most famous book
titled, In a Different Voice: Psychological
Theory and Women's Development (1982)
*Gilligan argues that Kohlberg’s stages reflect
a male orientation
*Men=rules, rights, abstract principles
*Women=rules & rights but also interpersonal
relationships and the ethics of compassion
and care
*Women's morality is more contextualized*, it
is tied to real, ongoing relationships rather
than abstract solutions to hypothetical
dilemmas
*circumstances in which an event occurs
Gilligan’s Stages
Stage 1: focus on caring for self for survival
Stage 2: transition from selfishness to
responsibility to others
Stage 3: focus on care and conformity, with
desire to please others (*sacrifice of self)
Stage 4: transition from self sacrifice as
goodness to concern with truth of Self as
worthy person
• Stage 5: equalization between self and
others
• Stage 6: care becomes a self chosen
principle, accompanied by condemnation
of exploitation and hurt of self and others
___________________________________
-women undergo a moral development
distinct from but parallel to that of men
• Many psychologists now disagree with the
empirical* claim that men and women
differ in their moral reasoning in the way
Gilligan outlines
• Several studies have found that both men
and women use both justice and care
dimensions in their moral reasoning
• Question: How do you determine what is
the “right” action to take? How do you
know what you should do?
*proof by means of observation or experiment
Differences between Men’s &
Women’s Moral Voices
Men
-justice
-rights
-treat everyone fairly
and the same
-apply rules impartially
to everyone
-responsibility toward
abstract codes of
conduct
Women
-care
-responsibility
-concern with
everyone’s suffering
-preserve emotional
connectedness
-responsibility toward
real individuals