Moral Reasoning
What is Moral Reasoning?
contains the rules and standards for
what people should do
 ability to discern right from wrong
 ability to reason ethically about issues
 depends on the use of cognitive skills, a
perception of reality, evaluation of
experiences, making fine
discriminations & generalizations, and
reason abstractly

Jean Piaget, Barbel Inhelder,et
al.


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As a child we think concretely and
egocentrically, but as an adult we think in
more principled, abstract, sociocentric ways
~ 4-7 yrs - Heteronomous Morality - rules are
seen as unchangeable; we have no control
over changing them
~ 10 yrs - Autonomous Morality - children
become aware that rules and laws can be
changed; must judge a person by intentions
as well as the consequences
Lawrence Kohlberg
examined moral dilemmas
 initial study (1958) with 84 men
interviewed every 3 yrs for ~20 years
 from this and other initial studies he
developed his theory of moral
development - 6 stages of how people
solve moral dilemmas

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral
Development
 Level
1 - Preconventional -
egocentric and individual needs
» Stage 1 - obedience & punishment
» Stage 2 - instrumental relativism
don’t question authority;
behaviors=individual needs
you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours
Kohlberg, cont.
 Level
2 - Conventional-
shared norms and values
» Stage 3 - interpersonal concordance
» Stage 4 - orientation toward authority
& law
good behavior is what pleases others;
impt to maintain rules; laws are fixed
and are to be upheld
Kohlberg, cont.
 Level
3 - Postconventional-
societal values and principled
action
» Stage 5 - Social Contract Orientation focus on rights, equality, human dignity;
rules can be changed
» Stage 6 - Universal ethical principles place highest value on human life, equality,
justice
How measure moral
reasoning/development?

Most often- individual interview technique,
but this is very timely, tedious

J. Rest developed the Defining Issues
Test - a paper/pencil instrument which
attempts to measure MD
The Defining Issues Test (DIT) by James Rest
Heinz and the Drug
In Europe a woman was near death from a special kind of
cancer. There was one drug that 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 to
make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a
small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz,
went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could
only get together about $1,000, 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 Heinz got desperate and began to think about breaking
into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.
Which of the following is most important?
1. Whether the community's laws are going to be upheld.
2. Isn't it only natural for a loving husband to care so much for his wife that
he would steal?
3. Is Heinz willing to risk getting shot as a burglar or go to jail?
4. Whether Heinz is a professional wrestler or has influence with
professional wrestlers.
5. Whether Heinz is stealing for himself or doing this solely to help
someone else.
6. Whether the druggist's rights to his invention have to be respected.
7. Whether the essence of living is more encompassing than the termination
of dying, socially & individually.
8. What values are going to be the basis of governing how people act
towards each other.
9. Whether the druggist is going to be allowed to hide behind a worthless
law which only protects the rich anyhow.
10. Whether the law in this case is getting in the way of the most basic
claim of nay member of society.
11. Whether the druggist deserves to be robbed for being so greedy and
cruel.
12. Would stealing in such a case bring about more total good for the whole
society or not.
Carol Gilligan
it’s not that women are less moral, not
deficient in some way
 they think and speak in a different voice
 women have a stronger sense of
interconnectedness, relationships,
intimacy.
 women feel more comfortable when
connected with others

Gilligan suggests:
Women:
 use conversation to
expand &
understand
 see people as
interdependent
 see actions in broad
context
 like intimacy and
connection
Men:
 use talk to convey
information
 view themselves as
self-reliant
 regard events as
isolated and discrete
 don’t like intimacy
and affiliation
Gilligan’s Levels of Moral
Development

Level 1 - Individual Survival
» selfish, egocentric

Level 2 - Care and Responsibility for
others
» self-sacrificing, altruistic acts

Level 3 - Balance of care for self and
others
» recognize & legitimize impt. of own needs
as well as others
Focus for Gilligan is on caring,
involvement, connectedness,
intimacy
While men see issues in terms
of justice, women in terms of
care
(Care vs. justice)
Several books on adolescent
girls
Mapping the Moral Domain,
Making Connections,
says younger girls are
confident, self-assured, but
as they move into
adolescence and realize the
demands of the culture they
become unsure, silent
Praises and Criticism of
Gilligan’s Work


Stiller & Forrest (1990)
found men talk in terms
of justice, women in
terms of caring
McAdams (1988)
women scored
significantly higher in
intimacy motivation

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small, skewed samples
overgenderizing reinforces old
stereotypes
undermines struggle for
equality
Walker (84) analyzed
61 studies and found
majority with no
differences in moral
reasoning
But Gilligan counters:
We wouldn’t have to act like
men if our society would
start appreciating and
legitimizing women’s ways of
thinking
Small Group Exercise
Read and Discuss the moral dilemma
 List items/issues to be considered
 As a group decide which are the 2 or 3
most important issues to consider

Escaped Prisoner
A man had been sentenced to prison for 20 years.
After one year, he escaped from prison, moved to a
new area of the country, and took on the name of
Thompson. For 18 years, he worked hard, and
gradually saved enough money to buy his own
business. He was fair to customers, gave his
employees top wages, and gave most of his own
profits to charity. Then one day, Mrs. Jones, and old
neighbor, recognized him as the man who had
escaped from prison 18 years before, and for whom
the police had been looking.
Which of the following is most important?
1. Hasn't Mr. Thompson been good enough for such a long time to prove
he isn't a bad person?
2. Everytime someone escapes punishment for a crime, doesn't that
encourage more crime?
3. Wouldn't we be better off without prisons and legal system oppression?
4. Has Mr. Thompson really paid his debt to society?
5. Would society be failing what Mr. Thompson should fairly expect?
6. What benefits would prisons be apart from society, especially for a
charitable man.
7. How could anyone be so cruel and heartless as to send Mr. Thompson
to prison?
8. Would it be fair to all the prisoners who had to serve out their full
sentences if Mr. Thompson was let off?
9. Was Mrs. Jones a good friend of Mr. Thompson?
10. Wouldn't it be a citizen's duty to report an escaped criminal, regardless
of the circumstances.
11. How would the will of the people and the public good best be served?
12. Would going to prison do any good for Mr. Thompson or protect
anybody?