Moral Development

This was a system learn from a Jesuit cloisterer when in High School. The system tries to explain human moral development and on how people judge their behaviors. This also describes the formation of a system of values on which to base decisions concerning "right" and "wrong, " or "good" and "bad." Those values are underlying assumptions about standards that govern moral decisions.

I would like to call this: Five Stages of Moral Development on Behavior Basis.

Stage 1: Obedience and punishment orientation (may be up to age 9)

• In this stage, individuals focus on the direct consequences that their actions will have for themselves. For example, they think that an action is morally wrong if the person who commits it gets punished.

• The worse the punishment for the act is, the more 'bad' the act is perceived to be. In addition, there is no recognition that others' points of view are any different from one's own view. This stage may be viewed as a kind of authoritarianism.

Stage 2: Interpersonal accord and Appreciation orientation (normally age 9+ to adolescence)

• In this stage, individuals are receptive of approval or disapproval from other people. They try to be a good boy or good girl having learned that there is inherent value in doing so. In this stage, the reasoning may judge the morality of an action by evaluating its consequences in terms of a person's relationships.

Stage 3: Authority and social-order maintaining orientation ( could be adulthood)

• People in this stage think it is important to obey the laws and social conventions because of its importance to maintaining a working society. Moral reasoning in this stage is thus beyond the need for approval exhibited in stage two, because the individual understands that society needs to transcend individual needs. A central ideal or ideals often prescribe what is right and wrong, such as in the case of fundamentalism. If one person violates a law, perhaps everyone would - thus there is an obligation and a duty to uphold laws and rules. When someone does violate a law, it is morally wrong; culpability is thus a significant factor in this stage as it separates the bad domains from the good ones.

Stage 4: Ethics and Social contract orientation

• In this stage, persons have certain principles to which they may attach more value than laws, such as human rights or social justice. In this reasoning, actions are wrong if they violate these ethical principles. Laws are regarded as social contracts rather than dictums, and must be changed when necessary (provided there is agreement). By this reasoning, laws that do not promote general social welfare should be changed. Democratic governments are ostensibly based on this Stage reasoning.

Stage 5: Animal Nature and Principled conscience

• It appears that people rarely if ever reach this stage. At this stage, their behaviors no longer depend on rules or ethics. Instead they judge their behaviors by themselves. They take up the responsibility of the result of their judgment. They follow rules and ethics most of the time but in the sense that they know clearly the reasons behind the rules and not following regulations or ethical standard blindly. Their standard of behavior is not the standard created by rules or ethics. The moral reasoning is based on the use of abstract reasoning using universal ethical principles. One way to do this is by imagining oneself in everyone else's shoes, imagining what they would decide if they were doing the same.

One thing is important, the above development although with some age suggestion, it doesn’t mean that the development is necessary related to age. Many people remain in the stage depending on their experiences, their mind set and sometimes education. I would say many college students in Hong Kong even hang about in stage one or two.

To what were noticed, most of the Chinese people remain in the third stage and are not able to go any further. Undeniably, this is an easy way of life. No need to think about what is right or wrong. Just following the rules from the law, the directive from Bible or moral standards set by ancestors. That leads to no matter how ridiculous the law seems to be, still many people will support it without any doubt. This kind of life also does not need to be responsible to most of the decisions made because the line of right or wrong was pre-determined. So they could act and judge people more easily and normally without compassion.

To illustrate one's moral development, there is an interesting experiment named: Heinz dilemma. This experiment was created by Lawrence Kohlberg who tried to explain the development of moral reasoning. A dilemma that Kohlberg used in his original research was the druggist's dilemma: Heinz Steals the Drug In Europe. Created while studying psychology at the University of Chicago, the theory was inspired by the work of Jean Piaget and a fascination with children's reactions to moral dilemmas.