1. Moral Reasoning

2. 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

3. Jean Piaget, Barbel Inhelder,et al.
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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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)

15. 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

16. 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
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

17. But Gilligan counters:
We wouldn’t have to act like men if our society would start appreciating and legitimizing women’s ways of thinking

18. 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

19. Escaped Prisoner A man had been sentenced to prison for 20 years
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.

20. Which of the following is most important. 1. Hasn't Mr
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?