Describe Kohlberg’s stages of moral development and discuss Carol Gilligan’s views about Kohlberg’s stages

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER:
?Lawrence Kohlberg (1927–1987) developed moral dilemmas or situations like the one we posed to you, and then asked participants to describe what the main character should do and why. After analyzing data from thousands of participants, Kohlberg created a theory of how people morally reason and the changes in this reasoning that occur as they develop (Kohlberg, 1969; Kohlberg, Levine, & Hewer, 1983). He proposed that our moral reasoning develops in six stages, which he arranged in three levels: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. At the preconventional level of reasoning, children make decisions about right or wrong based on their ability to avoid punishment or to gain rewards. With the ability to think logically and to understand another person’s perspective, children at the conventional level of reasoning can now understand rules and expectations that others may have for them. At the postconventional level of moral reasoning, people base their judgments of right or wrong on contractual or universal principles of morality. The person can appreciate extenuating circumstances and realizes that external standards handed down from society cannot always be applied to all the situations in the same manner.
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Carol Gilligan (b. 1936) hypothesized that males and females do not judge right and wrong in the same manner. She believed that Kohlberg’s model emphasized the male perspective on moral reasoning more than the female view. In her book A Different Voice (1982), Gilligan speculated that males and females focus on different principles for deciding what is right and wrong. Males tend to be more focused on concepts of fairness and justice. Females are more likely to emphasize concern, care, and relations with others in making judgments about right and wrong. Gilligan asserts that women’s focus on caring is a different, but not a less valid, basis for moral reasoning.