UNIT 2:

THE MORAL AGENT

Theory of Moral Development
• The necessary growth, which is a maturation in moral
reasoning has been the focus of study of many theorists.
One of them is the American moral psychologist Lawrence
Kohlberg (1927- 1987).
• Kohlberg's theory of moral development is a theory that
focuses on how one develops morality and moral
reasoning. Kohlberg's theory suggests that moral
development occurs in a series of six stages which he
divided in three levels.
 Stage 6
Universal Principle

Stage 5
Social Contract
Stage 4
Maintaining Social Order

Stage 3
Developing Good Interpersonal Relationships
Stage 2
Individualism and Exchange
Stage 1
Obedience and Punishment
 PRE-CONVENTIONAL LEVEL

The pre-conventional level corresponds to how infants

and children think. The type of reasoning at this level is
centered on the consequences of one’s action and the
level is divided into two stages.
• Stage 1 (Obedience and Punishment): In the earliest stage of moral development,
obedience and punishment are especially common in young children. At this stage, a
child reasons out that actions are “good” if they are able to avoid punishment and
actions are “bad” if they result in punishment. By that, we understand that
children’s action as thought of is not that they have found what the best thing to
do is, rather, they have found what to do in order to evade getting scolded or
punished. According to Kohlberg, people at this stage see rules as fixed
and absolute.
• Stage 2 (Individualism and Exchange): At the individualism and
exchange stage of moral development, children account for individual
points of view and judge actions based on how they serve individual
needs. Hence, what is “good” for children of this age is what brings them
pleasure or satisfaction. Characteristically, at this stage, children still have
difficulties making a distinction between them and others. Others are
considered extensions of who they are that's why reciprocity is possible
only if it serves one's own interests.
• The pre-conventional stage symbolizes the stage when
children have not yet understood the importance of rules
in their life. The consequences of their acts are most
important as they may lead to either punishment or to
their satisfaction or pleasure their interests having been
served. What is right or wrong is not determined by
following rules but by what their actions bring them.
 CONVENTIONAL LEVEL

At this stage, older children, adolescents, and young adults

learn o conform to societal expectations. Conventions acquire
significance for the individual and learns to follow them. They
now understand the importance of conventions in their life.
Level II is subdivided into two stages.
• Stage 3 (Developing Good Interpersonal Relationships): Often referred to as the "good
boy-good girl" orientation, this stage of the interpersonal relationship of moral
development is focused on living up to social expectations and roles. The more common
tendency for the individual is to conform especially to the values of the immediate
group like the family, playmates, and later to those of the peer group because by doing
so will best serve his or her interests to be part of the group. They are also more open
and give more importance to the expectations of larger groups in their community or in
school.
• Stage 4 (Maintaining Social Order): It is the growing understanding of the significance
of societal norms. By this time, the individual has discovered that following norms is
not only advantageous to them but also vital for society as a whole. The majority of
the laws, norms, and regulations of one's society are therefore accepted and valued by
the individual at this stage. The moral reasoning of this stage is shaped by duty to the
social norms represented in its rules and laws. In this stage, adolescents place such a
high value on upholding laws and rules that when others break them, such as when
laws are improperly or wrongly implemented, they are capable of rebelling against a
system that disregards the laws.
• According to Kohlberg, those who believe that the most they can do is just adhere to
the laws and norms of their society, organizations, or religion are caught in this
second stage of the conventional level. They tend to adopt a legalistic attitude in
which the rightness or wrongness of an action depends on whether or not one
complies with rules and regulations because they are unable to comprehend the
reasons behind why there are laws and rules to obey.

• It is not the objective of Kohlberg's theory to define what constitutes a good or

morally upright deed. Instead of putting forth a specific ethical theory, he describes
the growth of moral reasoning at various phases of development.
 POST-CONVENTIONAL LEVEL

At the post-conventional level, people understand that it is no longer

important to simply obey the rules of the society. By this point, the
moral agent is aware that what is more important is acting in
accordance with one's own principles or convictions. The new dilemma
for the individual moral agent is whether what they do is what they
ought to do.
• Stage 5 (Social Contract ): People in this stage start to take other people's different
values, opinions, and beliefs into consideration due to the concepts of a social
contract (agreements that rational agents have reached, whether explicitly or
implicitly, in order to serve what can be considered the common good are what one
ought to follow). A society needs rules of law to function, but these laws must be
agreed upon by all members of the society. The common good is something that
rational agents recognize as their calling and should respect and uphold.
• Stage 6 (Universal Principles): Kohlberg’s final level of moral reasoning is based on
universal ethical principles and abstract reasoning ( “higher laws” that go beyond
conventional socially-imposed laws, and that these higher laws encompass abstract
philosophical ethical principles). A commitment to justice entails a duty to disobey unjust
laws, as laws are only legitimate in as much as they are founded on justice. Decisions
are made in an absolute, categorical manner as opposed to a hypothetical, conditional
manner. The decision made is the consequence of the consensus. In this approach, action
is never a means but always an end in itself; one does something because it is right, not
because it is expected, legal, or predetermined.
• Kohlberg's theory helps to point out the differences in moral
reasoning: the more mature kind is seen in people who are not
anymore dictated by the logic of reward and punishment, or
pain and pleasure. Simply following rules even if, theoretically,
they are the correct ones, does not necessarily qualify as
morally mature behavior. One must make free use of her own
power of reasoning in cases of moral choice and not remain a
creature of blind obedience to either pain and pleasure or to the
demands of the groups, if one aspires to moral maturity.
 THE MORAL AGENT AND CONTEXTS
• Individual choices, decisions, plans and needs even when initiated and
originated from the individual himself or herself may seem not to be
products of purely individual nature. Many variables of external origins
may be at play.
• Filipino philosopher Ramon C. Reyes (1935-2014), succinctly explained in
his essay "Man and Historical Action", that "who one is" is a cross
point. By this he means that one's identity or who one is, is a product
of many forces and events that happened outside of one's choosing.
The Four Cross Points
• Physical – "Who one is", is a function of physical events in the past and
material factors in the present that one did not have a choice in.
• Interpersonal - "Who one is", is in the sense of one's character, manners,
thinking, and mindset as influenced by how one is brought up in the
family. One’s personality is shaped by the people around especially by
those who influence the person during the early years of existence.
• Societal- "Who one is", is molded in large part by the kind of
society and culture-which, for the most part, one did not choose-
that one belongs to.
• Historical
- " Who one is", is shaped by one's people's history or
the events that one's people has undergone.
• According to Reyes, "who one is" is a cross point, but in
an existential level, he argues that the meaning of one's
existence is in the intersection between the fact that
one's being is a product of many forces outside her
choosing and her ideal future for herself.
Who One Is
• Thehuman individual always exists in the tension between being conditioned
by external factors and being a free agent.
• The human individual never exists in a vacuum as if she were a pure rational
entity without any embodiment and historicity.
• The moral agent is not a calculating, unfeeling machine that produces
completely objective and absolutely correct solutions to even the most complex
moral problems.
Culture and Morality
• Culture “is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals,
law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society." (Tylor 1958).
• It is "... a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a
system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms through which
men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and
attitudes toward life" (Geertz 1973: 89)
Culture and Morality
• Cultureshapes and forms the person more particularly in terms of moral development.
Along with personal identity, the human person also develops moral identity which can
be defined as “the degree to which being a moral person is important to an individual”
(Hardy & Carlo, 2005)”Culture shapes and forms the person more particularly in terms
of moral development. Along with personal identity, the human person also develops
moral identity which can be defined as “the degree to which being a moral person is
important to an individual” (Hardy & Carlo, 2005)”
Elements of Culture
▪ Time. Something that is part of culture must endure time. If it does
not last, it might just be a fad.
▪ Place. A culture is limited in its coverage. It is limited to a particular
place. It cannot be a practice in all places, otherwise it is a universal
phenomenon, and it does not reflect the culture of a particular place.
Elements of Culture
▪ Player (persons). In the same manner as the place, culture is also
limited to particular persons living the particular culture. There has to
be a people practicing the culture.
▪ Dynamism. A culture is not dead. It is alive. Cultures continue to
develop or evolve to become another culture
The Role of Culture in Moral Behavior and Development
▪ The pattern of the person’s life is conditioned by the moral
standards present in his or her culture. Individuals learn the moral
codes of the right behavior and their opposites within that context of
social interaction. The people around the individual transmit those codes
that the individual acquires as he matures and develops intellectually,
psychologically, and socially.
The Role of Culture in Moral Behavior and Development
▪ Culture defines the normative principles and behavior of the society.
Within the culture are sets of principles that are encouraged to guide
the manner in which people will have to live. As such, there are
behaviors that are recommended by the culture and the society that
practices them. This includes the moral norms that the society nurtures
allowing the members live and define what is right and wrong.
The Role of Culture in Moral Behavior and Development
▪ Culture sets the restrictions and boundaries in the lives of people as they
relate and live in their community. In any society, not everything is tolerable as
there are restrictions in order to maintain a certain order to guarantee that
each member is protected in the same manner that the same member can
protect others. Restrictions and boundaries are important to any society
because delinquent manners may always be present. As such, they serve as
guide to people’s behavior.
The Role of Culture in Moral Behavior and Development
▪Culture helps generate the character and identity of its people
and that includes their moral character. The manners in which
people live together give them their identity as a unique group.
The way people dress up, the way they greet each other, their
food and even the type of houses symbolize their uniqueness
which outsiders notice with ease.
The Role of Culture in Moral Behavior and Development
▪Culture identifies the authorities. They are the symbol of
guidance and control. During the earlier times, the elders had
the great honor of having been looked up to because of their
experience. As such they were the “talisman” of their
community who offered wise and appropriate decisions to
resolve conflicts and issues
Ethics and Culture
▪What is the relationship between ethics and one's own culture?

▪A common opinion many people hold is that one’s culture

dictates what is right or wrong for an individual. For such
people, the saying “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” by St.
Ambrose applies to deciding on moral issues.
Moral Relativism
▪ is used to describe several philosophical positions concerned with the differences
in moral judgments across different peoples and cultures.
▪ the view that moral judgments are true or false only relative to some particular
standpoint (for instance, that of a culture or a historical period) and that no standpoint
is uniquely privileged over all others.
▪ Moral relativism is on the opposite end of the continuum from moral absolutism which
says that there is always one right answer to any ethical question.
Variations of Moral Relativism
Cultural Relativism: It is the observation that different
cultures have different moral standards, and that culture is
the defining factor of moral judgments. All beliefs,
customs, practices, and every action we hold as moral are
rooted in the culture we have.
Variations of Moral Relativism
Meta-Ethical Moral Relativism: It states that there are no
objective grounds for preferring the moral values of one culture
over another. Societies make their moral choices based on their
unique beliefs, customs, and practices. And, in fact, people tend to
believe that the “right” moral values are the values that exist in
their own culture.
Variations of Moral Relativism
Normative Moral Relativism: It states thatall societies
ought to accept each other's differing moral values,
given that there are no universal moral principles.
Variations of Moral Relativism
Normative Moral Relativism: It states thatall societies
ought to accept each other's differing moral values,
given that there are no universal moral principles.