Essay On Moral Development

646 Words2 Pages

Moral development focuses on “the emergence, change, and understanding of morality from infancy through adulthood” (Wikipedia, 2013). Morality is defined as “principles for how individuals ought to treat one another, with respect to justice, other’s welfare, and rights” (Banks, 2013). To better understand how individuals understand morality, “it is essential to measure their beliefs, emotions, attitudes, and behaviors that contribute to moral understanding” (Wikipedia, 2013). The moral development of a person’s character will have a major impact on society as whole. Most importantly the moral responsibilities need to be taught to children at a young age because early years remain crucial to later development (Wikipedia, 2013). There are two theories that provided several stages of moral development. The first theorist is Kohlberg, who came up with “three levels of moral reasoning: Premoral, Convention, and Principled” (Banks, 2013). The second theorist is Gilligan, who “believed that females went through three stages of moral development, morality as individual, morality as self-sacrifice, and morality as equality” (Banks, 2013). Heinz’s Dilemma provides a moral problem that depends on how each person looks at. Heinz is faced with a dilemma of whether to steal the only drugs that make his wife better. He is “contemplating stealing them since the pharmacist will not reach a consensus with him” (Heinz’s Dilemma). Since he cannot afford the drugs, he “has made various suggestions to the pharmacist, but the pharmacist has proven to be stubborn and leaves Heinz with only one option, which is stealing the drugs” (Heinz’s Dilemma). This dilemma shows a person who cares about his beloved person looking at the dilemma from ethic of care p... ... middle of paper ... ...ponsibility, whereas men stress the application of rules in a fair, impartial and equal matters” (Banks, 2013). My findings show that other factors does contribute to what moral is, not only is what right or wrong? For example the male who answered Heinz should steal the medication took in consideration marriage where the husband and wife commit to each other and being there for each other. While females answer shows the concern of resolving the issue with a minimize harm and if there was no hope or a solution than Heinz should stela the medication. Reference: Banks, C. (2013). Criminal Justice Ethics: Theory and Practice, Edition 3. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Heinz’s Dilemma. Retrieved from: http://www.brillianttermpapers.com/samples/heinzs-dilemma/ Wikipedia. (2013). Moral Development. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_development

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