Kohlberg’s Theories of Moral Development HRE 4M1 – Grade 12M Religion Chapter 10 – Free to be Fully Alive

Stages of Moral Reasoning LEVEL 1 (Pre-Conventional) – FOCUS ON THE SELF Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience Stage 2: Personal Usefulness LEVEL 2 (Conventional) – FOCUS ON OTHERS Stage 3: Conforming to the Will of the Group Stage 4: Authority and Social Order (Law and Order) LEVEL 3 (Post-Conventional) – FOCUS ON PRINCIPLES Stage 5: Social Contract and Human Rights Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles (Personal Conscience)

Kohlberg’s Heinz Dilemma Example A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the 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 him to produce. 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 broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

Pre-Conventional Examples STAGE DESCRIPTION Examples of Moral Reasoning Favouring Heinz’s Theft Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz’s Theft Punishment and Obedience He should steal the drug, because he offered to pay for it and because it is only worth $200, not the $2000 the druggist was charging He should steal it because if he let’s his wife die, he would get in trouble He shouldn’t steal because it is a big crime He shouldn’t steal the drug, because he might get caught and sent to jail Personal Usefulness It is alright to steal the drug, becasue his wife needs it to live and he needs her companionship He should steal the drug, because his wife needs it and he isn’t doing any harm to the druggist because he can pay him back later He shouldn’t steal the drug, because he might get caught and his wife would probably die before he gets out of jail – it wouldn’t do much good He shouldn’t steal, because the druggist was not doing a bad thing by wanting to make a prophet

Conventional Examples STAGE DESCRIPTION Examples of Moral Reasoning Favouring Heinz’s Theft Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz’s Theft Conforming to the Will of the Group He should steal the drug, because society expects a loving husband to help his wife regardless of the consequences He should steal the drug, because if he didn’t his family would think he was an uncaring human He shouldn’t steal the drug, because he will bring dishonour on his family and they will be ashamed of him He shouldn’t steal the drug, because no one would blame him for doing all he could legally (The druggist would be the heartless one) Law and Order He should steal the drug, because if he did nothing, he would be responsible for his wife’s death. He should take it with the idea of paying the druggist back He should steal the drug, because if people like the druggist are allowed to get away with being greedy and selfish, society would eventually break down He should not steal the drug, because if people are allowed to take the law into their own hands, regardless of how they justify it, social order would break down He shouldn’t steal the drug, because it’s still always wrong to steal and his law-breaking would cause him to feel guilty

Post-Conventional Examples STAGE DESCRIPTION Examples of Moral Reasoning Favouring Heinz’s Theft Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz’s Theft Social Contract and Human Rights The theft is justified, because the law is not set up to deal with the circumstances in which obeying it would cost a human life. It is not reasonable to say that stealing is wrong, because the law should not allow the druggist to deny someone access to a life saving treatment You can’t really blame him for stealing the drug, but even such extreme circumstances do not justify a person taking the law into their own hands He shouldn’t steal the drug, because eventually he would pay the price of loss of self-respect for disregarding the rules of society Universal Ethical Principles He must steal the drug, because when a choice must be made between disobeying a law and saving a life, one must act in accordance with the higher principle of preserving and respecting life He is justified in stealing the drug, because if he had failed in this action to save his wife, he would not have lived up to his own standards of conscience Heinz must consider the other principle who need the drug just as much as his wife. By stealing the drug he would be acting in accordance with his own particular feelings with utter disregard for the value of all the lives involved He should not steal the drug, because though he would probably not be blamed by others, he would have to deal with his own self-condemnation, because he did not live up to his own conscience and standards of honesty.