• In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid
$400 for the radium and charged
$4,000 for a small dose of the drug.
• The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $2,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.
Should these men break the law to save their loved ones? Why or why not?
• For homework, answer this question in two paragraphs.
• Your assignment should take up about 2/3 of a side of looseleaf or ½ page typed.
• You have one week to do this.
• DO NOT SUMMARIZE STORY.
Ashley borrowed her father’s car. She and her friend Kayla were very late coming home that evening.
They were further delayed at a stop light on a quiet street.
After what seemed to be an unnecessarily long wait, Kayla reminded Ashley that they were late.
Ashley continued to wait, insisting that if everyone ignored stop lights when it was personally convenient to do so, no street would be safe.
• At what stage do you think Ashley’s decision was?
Why?
Jordan was not prepared for a difficult chemistry exam, so he wrote some important formulas on a slip of paper which he put in his pocket before the test.
Just before the test began, the teacher informed the class that any student caught cheating would automatically fail the test. Even though Jordan needed the information he wrote, he didn’t use it because the teacher stood too close to his desk during the entire exam.
• At what stage? Why?
Early in the school year, DeShawn who started at varsity basketball, asked
Caitlin for a date. Caitlin was not attracted to DeShawn and politely declined. A few weeks later Caitlin tried out for cheerleading and made it.
Several of the other cheerleaders were dating boys on the team. When
DeShawn asked Caitlin to go with him to a party that the team was having after an important game, she accepted.
• At what stage? Why?
Kyle asked his older sister, Gabby, if he could borrow her car so that he and his friend could go to the beach.
Gabby reminded her brother that she never wanted him to drive her car. She suggested, however, that if it was all right with him, they could all go together.
Soon after they got to the beach, Kyle’s friend got ill. Kyle asked Gabby if she could drive his friend home. Gabby refused, saying that she had just come all that way and she was not going to turn around and go right back.
Kyle tried unsuccessfully to find a way to get his friend home. Finally, while Gabby was swimming, he wrote her a note telling her he would be back soon as possible, took her car keys, and drove his friend back home.
• What stage? Why?
As Jason’s father was leaving for work in the morning, he asked Jason to clean out the garage sometime during the day.
Jason responded, saying he already had plans to play tennis that day.
Around noon, Jason and two friends made plans that required Jason to borrow his father’s car that evening. Jason decided to skip playing tennis and clean the garage.
• What stage? Why?
Should we declare war on Iraq?
Kohlberg in Congress
Against the Gulf War
• "We shouldn' t consider war..."
"because it would hurt our economy..."(Stage 1).
• "because we' ll have more money for domestic issues..."(Stage 2).
• "because we don' t want to appear too militaristic..."(Stage 3).
• "because war is killing and killing is against the law..."(Stage4).
• "even though the situation is bad, war is damaging to people and property and society agrees that is bad..."(Stage 5).
• "although atrocities have been committed, it would be an even greater atrocity to wage war..."
(Stage 6).
For the Gulf War
• "We should consider war"
"because our oil is threatened...."
(Stage 1)
• "because we can gain security of the oil supply..." (Stage 2)
• "because we don't want the world to see us as weak...."(Stage 3)
• "because the U.N. has laid down written resolutions which should be upheld...“(Stage 4)
• "the situation is extreme enough that society's rights are threatened and need to be defended..." (Stage
5)
• "evil is on the march, and it would be morally wrong to allow it to continue...."(Stage 6)