Ethics is the study of what is morally right and wrong, or a set of beliefs about what is morally right and wrong. To arrive at that set of beliefs and put them into practice requires moral development.
Lawrence Kohlberg’s Moral Development Process suggests that moral development occurs in six stages, grouped into three levels:
- Preconventional
- Conventional
- Postconventional
Kohlberg proposed three levels of moral development in which progress happens sequentially from a lower stage to the higher stage.
Moral development happens through increasingly complex reasoning by exposure to moral dilemmas. Not everyone reaches the highest stage though.
Preconventional
Stage 1: Obedience and punishment orientation.
Motivation: Fear of punishment.
Example: One shouldn’t steal because one could go to jail.
Stage 2: Instrumental and exchange orientation.
Motivation: Self-interest. “What’s in it for me?”
Example: One may steal if he won’t get caught—it’s worth the risk.
Conventional
Focus is on Social norms, laws, and duty.
Stage 3: Interpersonal Accord (Good Interpersonal Relationships).
Motivation: Approval of others; relationships
Example: One should steal to save his wife, she’s family.
Stage 4: Social Accord (Maintaining Social Order).
Motivation: Social order; law and order
Example: Stealing is wrong even to save a life—laws must be upheld.
Post conventional
Focus is on Abstract ethical principles.
Stage 5: Social contract & individual rights.
Motivation: Social contract; human rights
Example: Laws protect property, but the right to life is more fundamental—stealing may be justified.
Stage 6: Universal ethical principles.
Motivation: Universal ethics (e.g., Kant, Rawls)
Example: Human life has inherent value; one must act according to the principle of preserving life, even if it means breaking a law.
