Kohlberg Stages of Moral
Development
Level 1. Pre conventional Morality
Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation.
Stage 2. Individualism and Exchange.
Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment
Orientation.
Kohlberg's stage 1 is similar to Piaget's first stage of moral
thought. The child assumes that powerful authorities hand
down a fixed set of rules which he or she must
unquestioningly obey. To the Heinz dilemma, the child
typically says that Heinz was wrong to steal the drug because
"It's against the law," or "It's bad to steal," as if this were all
there were to it.
Stage 2. Individualism and Exchange.
At this stage children recognize that there is not just one
right view that is handed down by the authorities. Different
individuals have different viewpoints. "Heinz," they might
point out, "might think it's right to take the drug, the
druggist would not." Since everything is relative, each person
is free to pursue his or her individual interests. One boy said
that Heinz might steal the drug if he wanted his wife to live,
but that he doesn't have to if he wants to marry someone
younger and better-looking (Kohlberg, 1963
Level II. Conventional Morality
Stage 3. Good Interpersonal Relationships.
Stage 4. Maintaining the Social Order.
Stage 3. Good Interpersonal
Relationships.
At this stage children--who are by now usually entering their
teens--see morality as more than simple deals. They believe
that people should live up to the expectations of the family
and community and behave in "good" ways. Good behavior
means having good motives and interpersonal feelings such as
love, empathy, trust, and concern for others. Heinz, they
typically argue, was right to steal the drug because "He was a
good man for wanting to save her," and "His intentions were
good, that of saving the life of someone he loves."
Stage 4. Maintaining the Social Order.
At stage 4, in contrast, the respondent becomes more
broadly concerned with society as a whole. Now the emphasis
is on obeying laws, respecting authority, and performing
one's duties so that the social order is maintained. In response
to the Heinz story, many subjects say they understand that
Heinz's motives were good, but they cannot condone the
theft. What would happen if we all started breaking the laws
whenever we felt we had a good reason?
Level III. Post conventional Morality
Stage 5. Social Contract and Individual Rights.
Stage 6: Universal Principles.
Stage 5. Social Contract and Individual
Rights.
At stage 4, people want to keep society functioning. However, a
smoothly functioning society is not necessarily a good one. A
totalitarian society might be well-organized, but it is hardly the
moral ideal. At stage 5, people begin to ask, "What makes for a
good society?" They begin to think about society in a very
theoretical way, stepping back from their own society and
considering the rights and values that a society ought to uphold.
Stage 5 respondents basically believe that a good society is best
conceived as a social contract into which people freely enter to
work toward the benefit of all They recognize that different social
groups within a society will have different values, but they believe
that all rational people would agree on two points i.e basic rights
and democratic procedures.
Stage 6: Universal Principles.
Stage 5 respondents are working toward a conception of the
good society. They suggest that we need to (a) protect certain
individual rights and (b) settle disputes through democratic
processes. However, democratic processes alone do not
always result in outcomes that we intuitively sense are just. A
majority, for example, may vote for a law that hinders a
minority. Thus, Kohlberg believes that there must be a higher
stage--stage 6--which defines the principles by which we
achieve justice.
Kohlberg's conception of justice follows that of the
philosophers Kant and Rawls, as well as great moral leaders
such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
