Lawrence Kohlberg & Carol Gilligan 6.6

Socrates

believed evil actions were caused by ignorance, people found things good when they resulted in satisfaction and avoided bad

Lawrence Kohlberg

moral development; presented boys moral dilemmas and studied their responses and reasoning processes in making moral decisions. Most famous moral dilemma is "Heinz" who has an ill wife and cannot afford the medication. Should he steal the medication and why?

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

preconventional: punishment-obedience orientation, instrumental exchange orientation
conventional: good child orientation, law and order orientation
postconventional: social-contract orientation, universal ethics orientation

punishment-obedience orientation

Rules should be obeyed to avoid punishment from those in authority

instrumental-exchange orientation

reward; one's own best interest

good child orientation

Obeys rules to get approval

law and order orientation

behavior is guided by duty to uphold laws and rules for their own sake

social-contract orientation

the type of postconventional moral reasoning in which one believes that individual actions should serve the greater good, acknowledge it is ok to break the law

universal ethics orientation

moral reason is complicated, look at entire impact of decision to see if it's moral

Carol Gilligan

Presented feminist critique of Kolhberg's moral development theory; believed women's moral sense guided by relationships