ETHICS

• Lawrence Kohlberg's 6 Stages of Moral Development


  Theory that our development of moral reasoning happens in six stages, structured in three levels: Preconventional, Conventional, Post-Conventional
• Levels of Moral Development

  • Preconventional
  • Conventional
  • Post-Conventional
• Preconventional Level


  • Morality is externally controlled, rules imposed by authority figures are conformed to in order to avoid punishment or receive rewards, what is right is what one can get away with or what is personally satisfying
• Conventional Level


  • Morality is characterized by an acceptance of society's conventions concerning right and wrong, obedience to rules and following society's norms even when there are no consequences
• Post-Conventional Level


  • People decide based on what they think is right rather than just following the rules, people have their own ethical principles and values and don't just do what society tells them to do
• Stage 1:

  Moral judgments based on obedience and punishment, a child's sense of good and bad is directly linked to whether he gets punished or not, the child doesn't help his friend because he is afraid of punishment
• Stage 2:

  Motivated by self-interest, the girl helps the bullied child because she knows she might become a victim herself someday and the bullied child might help her in the future
• Stage 3:

  Moral judgments guided by interpersonal accord and conformity, the girl doesn't intervene because she wants others to see her as a good girl who is conforming with the ethics of the community
• Stage 4: Authority and Maintaining Social Order

  Valuing authority and wanting to maintain social order, the teacher stops the fight because fighting at school is forbidden and it is his duty to uphold the rules that sustain a functioning society
• Stage 5:

  Understanding rules as a social contract as opposed to a strict order, the teacher is not sure how she feels about the rules because they should serve the right purpose and the bully deserves to learn his lesson
• Stage 6:

  Guided by universal ethical principles, the headmaster explains that rules are valid only if they are grounded in justice, and his highest moral principle is compassion, believing that all people should learn to understand each other's viewpoints