Professional Documents
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W Group 6 Gec8 Report
W Group 6 Gec8 Report
Development
Reporters:
Najib S. Bato
Raymund R. Sumaylo
. Arrabella Bonghanoy
Intended Learning Outcomes
• Describe each stage of moral development
• Evaluate one's personal growth against the
stages of personal development
INTRODUCTION
- If a human person has developed a moral
character, the facility to act morally and
ethically is in his/her hands. What are the
stages of moral development that the human
person as a moral agent undergoes?
As previously explained, the moral agent, the human person, is a being
capable of acting “with reference to right and wrong” that is, one who is
capable of being moral, having a moral character.
Social psychologists look at the moral agent as he is, where he is. In the
society where he lives. From birth, he/she is cared, nurtured and
influenced by the world around him/her. He/she grows up in a family,
develops in a society, and thus he/she is exposed to all the do’s and don’t’s
of his/her family and his/her society. His/her moral life, his/her norms and
moral standards, are shaped by the prevalent cultural influences. In other
words, as disclosed and unveiled as he/she is, the moral agent undergoes
development.
Just as the pattern of intellectual growth can be simply described as
passing through stages of animal behavior, pre-logical thinking, thought
governed by empirical logic and finally by formal logic, so morality can
be described as passing through stages of behavior controlled first, by
taboo; then second, by law; third by conscience (i.e. irrational, intrajected
values); fourth, by reciprocity; fifth, by social consensus and finally by
personal moral principles, though not necessarily in that order.
Kohlberg's Stages of Moral
Development
Moral development refers to the “process through which a human person,
gains his/her beliefs, skills and dispositions that makes him/her morally
mature person”. Kohlberg (2013) describes the stages of moral
development in 3 stages, namely: Level 1-Preconventional morality, Leve
2- Conventional morality, and Level 3-Post-Conventional morality. Each
level has two stages each so that there are six stages of moral development
Level 1-Pre-conventional morality
Laws are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid orders. Those that
do not promote the general welfare should be changed when necessary to
meet the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
Stage 6. Universal, ethical, principle
orientation.
Individuals at this stage have developed their own set of moral guidelines which may
or may not fit the law. They have developed moral judgements that are based on
universal human rights. The principles apply to everyone e.g human rights, justice,
and equality: The person will be prepared to act to defend these principles even if it
means going against the rest of society in the process and having to pay the
consequences of disapproval and or imprisonment. When faced with a dilemma
between law and scene, the person follows his conscience. Kohlberg doubted few
people reached this stage. (McLeod, 2013)
Development of conscience-based moral decision
The object of an act is the thing done. In reality, it is not distinct from the act itself;
for we cannot act without doing something, and that thing that is done is the object
of the act; say, of going, eating, praising, etc. The act or object may be viewed as
containing a further specification – e. g., going to church, praising God, eating
meat.
For an Now, an act thus specified may, when considered in itself, be good, bad, or
indifferent; thus, to praise God is good in itself, to blaspheme is bad in itself, and to
eat meat in is itself an indifferent act. But for an individual human act to be good,
its object, whether considered in itself or as further specified, must be free from all
defect, it must be good, or at least indifferent.
The end, or purpose intended by the agent is the second determinant of an act's
morality. The end here spoken of is not the end of the work, for that pertains to the
object, but the end of the workman or agent. No matter how good the object of an
act may be, if the end intended is bad, the act is thereby vitiated, spoiled or
impaired. Thus, to praise God is good in itself, but, if in so acting the intention
would be to play the hypocrite, the act is morally bad. This holds true whether the
vicious end is the nearest, remote or last end; whether it be actually or only virtually
intended.
The circumstances of time, place and persons have their part in determining the
morality of an individual act. The moral character of an act may be so affected by
attendant circumstances, that an act good in itself may be evil when accompanied
by certain circumstances; for instance, it is good to give drink to the thirsty, but if
the thirsty man is morally weak, and the drink is intoxicating, the act may be evil.
(Coppens, 2017)
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