Development of Moral

Characters
What is Moral Character?

Is an evaluation of an individual’s stable moral qualities. The concept of character can imply
variety of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues such as empathy, courage,
fortitude, honesty, and loyalty or of good behavior and habits.
 Psychologist Lawren Pervin defines moral character as “disposition to express behavior
in consistent patterns of functions across a range of situations”.
 The word “character” is derived from the Ancient Greek word “charakter”, referring to a
mark impressed upon a coin.
Two approaches when dealing with moral
character:

Normative ethics involve moral standards that exhibit right and wrong. It is a test of proper
behavior and determining what is right and wrong.
 Applied ethics involve specific and controversial issues along with a moral choice and
tend involve situations where people are either for or against the issue.
Development of Moral
Character
The development of moral character has
been argued by many philosophers in
various ways.
Nichomachean Ethics is remarkable work written in the 350 B.C. by Aristotle. His work focused on the
importance of development and behavior among virtuous character. “Eudaimonia “is related to how a moral
character develops.
 Aristotle’s positions seem to conflict with Plato’s philosophy. Plato will later have argued that incontinence
occurs when a person’s desires move him to progress or act in the way that he or she wants to perform.
 Confucius spends many years thinking about the concepts of human kindness and the development of a
character. Confucius argued that things must be clear to one’s mind in order to function properly in an
environment. The analects written by Confucius notes the notions of virtue and the righteous of human
kindness and the way to successful humanity.
 Lawrence Kohlberg (1958) agreed with Piaget’s (1932) theory of moral development in principle but
wanted to develop his ideas further. He used Piaget’s storytelling technique to tell people’s stories
involving moral dilemmas.
Here is the story for critical analysis:

Heinz’s wife was dying from a particular type of cancer. Doctors said a new drug might
save her. The drug had been discovered by a local chemist, and the Heinz tried desperately
to buy some, but the chemist was charging ten times the money it cost to make the drug,
and this was much more than the Heinz could afford.
    Heinz could only raise half the money, even after help from family and friends. He
explained to the chemist that his wife was dying and asked if he could have the drug
cheaper or pay the rest of the money later.
    The chemist refused, saying that he had discovered the drug and was going to make
money from it. The husband was desperate to save his wife, so later that night he broke
into chemist’s and stole the drug.”
Kohlberg asked a series of questions such
as:

Has Heinz the right to steal drug?

Would it change anything if Heinz did not love his wife?
What if the person dying was a stranger, would it make any difference?
1. Should the police arrest the chemist for murder if the woman died?
 By studying the answers from children of different ages to these questions,
Kohlberg hoped to discovered how moral reasoning changed as people grew
older.