Unit 3

Morals

motivation based on ideas of right and wrong

define personal character

Ethics

the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession

a social system where morals are applied

Values

beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment (either for or against something)

the rules by which we make decisions about right and wrong, should and shouldn’t, good and bad

Example

A defense lawyer may…value justicebelieve murder is immoral

Yet ethics demand…the accused be given a fair trial and

defended strongly

Lawrence Kohlberg Moral judgments

build on cognitive development

Sought to describe the development of moral reasoning:the thinking that

occurs when we consider right and wrong

Kohlberg’s DilemmaIn Europe, a woman was near death from a very bad disease, a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radiation that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging 10 times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow money, but he could get together only about $1000, which was half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.” Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife.

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

Preconventional Morality

Before 9 yrs Morality focuses on self-interest

1. Act to avoid punishment

2. Act to gain reward

Conventional Morality

By early adolescence

Morality focuses on upholding laws & social rules

3. Act to gain social approval/avoid social disapproval

4. Act to maintain social law and order

Postconventional Morality

Adulthood Actions are judged “right” because they flow from people’s rights or self-defined ethical principles

5. Act to meet the greatest good

6. Act because it is right, not because it is instrumental, expected, legal, or previously agreed upon