This article reasserts the centrality of reasoning as the focus for moral education. Attention to moral cognition must be extended to incorporate sociogenetic processes in moral growth. Moral education is not simply growth within the moral domain, but addresses capacities of students to engage in cross-domain coordination. Development beyond…

The argument of this paper focuses on the relationship between cognitive structures and structures of interaction. It contends that there is still a place in moral development theory and research for a concept of moral stages. The thesis, in short, is that moral stages are not structures of thought. They are structures of action encoded in…

David Carr (2002) has argued against the use of developmental theories as a basis for curriculum development in moral education. Although we find common ground with some aspects of Carr's arguments, we disagree with several of his criticisms of the cognitive-developmental approach to moral education. He confuses romantic ideology (as espoused by…

Most moral psychologists have come to accept two types of moral reasoning: Kohlberg's "justice" and Gilligan's "care", but there still seem to be some unresolved issues. By analysing and comparing Kohlberg's statement on some theoretical issues with some of Gilligan's statements in an interview in April 2003, I will look at some key issues in the…

States that the concept of developmental stages is going through a revival. Compares developmental stages from three points of view: (1) Piaget's original formulation, (2) cognitive development, and (3) socio-moral development. Outlines reasons for maintaining a hard-structural stage model by the Kohlbergian theorists. (GG)

After some preliminary doubts about Kohlberg's method of assessing moral reasoning, six claims of his "stage-structural" theory are criticized: (1) that the stages constitute structural wholes; (2) their invariant sequence; (3) their cultural universality; (4) their logical necessity; (5) increasing cognitive adequacy; and (6) increasing…

Discusses the relationship between Lawrence Kohlberg's cognitive-stage theory as a further development of Piaget's moral theory. Argues Kohlberg describes moral thought and not the formation of the independent moral function. Finds Kohlberg's major interest is in the characteristics of stages of individual moral reasoning and the principle of…

Much effort, on a philosophical and a research basis, has been applied to the subject of moral development framed within a constructivist, Piagetian stage-type format. These efforts have focused on the process of the individual's construction of a moral base and the individual's corresponding level of moral development. At this point in time,…

The literature on the moral judgment and moral development of mentally retarded individuals is reviewed. The relative contribution of mental age, chronological age, cognitive functioning, social experience, and environmental factors to the moral characteristics of this population is discussed. (Author/RM)

Compares the operational and sociomoral reasoning maturity of 70 deaf children with that of a sensory unimpaired control sample. Tests subjects individually on three Piagetian tasks, story pairs, and the concept of justice. Finds slower development of operational reasoning in the deaf children but comparable development in sociomoral reasoning.…