Kohlberg's Six Stages of Moral Reasoning

These word lists support the reading of the following texts from SpringBoard English Textual Power, Level 5, Unit 4 "Justice": Guernica, Nobel Peace Prize Speech, On Civil Disobedience, texts about hijab, Germany Divided over Hijab, School's Out for Summer, Mandela's Statement, Declaration of the Rights of the Child, Rough Justice, Time to Assert American Values, Kohlberg's Six Stages
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. cognitive
    relating to or involving the mental process of knowing
    Kohlberg had studied Jean Piaget's earlier work in cognitive and moral development and used this as a foundation for a 15-year study of moral reasoning.
  2. hedonistic
    devoted to pleasure
    I. Preconventional Level
    At this level the child is responsive to cultural rules and labels of good and bad, right and wrong, but interprets these labels in terms of either the physical or the hedonistic consequences of action (punishment, reward, exchange of favors) or in terms of the physical power of those who enunciate the rules and labels.
  3. deference
    a disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others
    Avoidance of punishment and unquestioning deference to power are valued in their own right, not in terms of respect for an underlying moral order supported by punishment and authority.
  4. pragmatic
    guided by experience and observation rather than theory
    Elements of fairness, reciprocity, and equal sharing are present, but they are always interpreted in a physical or pragmatic way.
  5. maintain
    stick to correctly or closely
    II. Conventional Level
    At this level, maintaining the expectations of the individual's family, group, or nation is perceived as valuable in its own right, regardless of immediate and obvious consequences.
  6. conformity
    compliance with accepted standards, rules, or norms
    There is much conformity to stereotypical images of what is majority or natural behavior.
  7. orientation
    a predisposition in favor of something
    This is orientation toward authority, fixed rules, and the maintenance of the social order.
  8. validity
    the quality of being legitimate and rigorous
    III. Post-conventional, Autonomous, or Principled Level
    At this level, there is a clear effort to define moral values and principles which have validity and application apart from the authority of the groups or persons holding these principles and apart from the individual's own identification with these groups.
  9. consensus
    agreement in the judgment reached by a group as a whole
    There is a clear awareness of the relativism of personal values and opinions and a corresponding emphasis upon procedural rules for reaching consensus.
  10. conscience
    conformity to one's own sense of right conduct
    Right is defined by the decision of conscience in accord with self-chosen ethical principles appealing to logical comprehensiveness, universality, and consistency.
Created on Sun Jul 27 16:59:38 EDT 2014 (updated Mon Jul 28 15:27:58 EDT 2014)

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