Re: Moral Development -- Adolescent Psychology Applied to Education

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Subject: Re: Moral Development

Author:
Kendall Nash

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Date Posted: 19:44:15 02/17/08 Sun
In reply to: Patrick Frett 's message, "Re: Moral Development" on 14:32:59 02/17/08 Sun

I too was intrigued by Heinz Dilemma. It was the one question that I had the most difficulty answering. Not because I didn't know what I would do because I had decided almost immediately after reading it that I would steal to save my wife�s life if it was the only option I had. However, I had to then ask myself not only what I would do but also what it right. In other words, just because I knew that is what I would do doesn't necessarily mean it is the right thing to do. Most if not all of us were taught from a very early age that stealing is wrong and as a Christian I believe that to be true. Sometimes however, we have to look at the big picture rather than one verse in order to understand what is truly right and wrong. My study of the Bible has led me to believe that God places much more value on human life than possessions and cares more about social justice than prophet. So after thinking about it I came to the conclusion that not only would it be ok for me to steal the medicine but that if no other option was presented to me than God would expect me to do so. Now I could argue that God would probably not put me in such a predicament in the first place and that if I prayed God would provide a better way but we are speaking in hypothetical so under those circumstances I believe that one law trumps the other. Protecting human life is more important than not stealing. Now I am not sure my thought process in this matter falls real neatly into one of Kohlberg's stages because he doesn't seem to leave much room for religious thought outside of stage one. Which is difficult for me to believe because I don't think that most Christians do what is right merely out of fear of punishment. To think that, is in my opinion a misunderstanding of Christianity. In fact I would say that most Christians, at least myself anyway, do what is right out of a love for God and a desire to be the person he wants me to be. I also find it difficult to think about my own morality without taking into consideration the God who made it possible for me to do so. In fact I could argue that one who thinks at a stage 6 level is in fact the most "religious" of them all because the universal human rights that are spoken of could in my view be better described as God given rights.

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