One of the overarching problems of the world today is that too many people see themselves as dominating other groups of people, and dominating nature. That is a root problem. And thus part of a core solution builds from Kohlberg's commitment to a universal moral orientation, though extended to include not only all people but the more-than-human…

An analysis of four foundational issues in the study of moral development is provided. The four issues involve: (1) the definition of morality; (2) individual or cultural moral variation; (3) moral ontogeny; and (4) moral epistemology. The first section of the paper describes each issue. The second section is based on the argument that the four…

Cultural context is not the sole source of human knowledge. Postmodern theory, in both its deconstructionist and affirmative approaches, offers an incomplete basis by which to study race, class, and gender, and undermines ethical interaction. Deconstructionism calls for the abandonment of generalizable research findings, asserting that the concept…

How do people whose identities appear so deeply connected to the land they love engage in environmentally harmful activities? This paper explores this question, presenting selected research on children's moral relationships with nature and examining the boundaries of the moral domain to more precisely delineate relations between moral constructs.…

Examined the moral and ecological reasoning of second, fifth, and eighth graders regarding the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Found that children understood negative effects of the spill, cared that harm occurred to shoreline and marine life, and thought it violated a moral obligation. Fifth and eighth graders used a greater proportion of anthropocentric…

This essay emphasizes a need for broad-minded constructivism which posits that individuals have coherent ways of understanding their world and that these understandings are structured and hierarchically organized. The meaning behind the term "co-construction," used in psychology, anthropology, sociology, and other disciplines, is…

Examined children's obligatory moral judgments, which reflect a moral requirement, and discretionary moral judgments, which reflect moral worthiness but not a requirement. Children were interviewed in response to three stories that entailed positive and negative morality. Results showed that moral acts conceived of by children as being obligatory…

Two studies of the development of children's moral relationships with nature addressed such questions as: (1) What does it mean to say that we have an obligation not to harm the natural environment? (2) Does the natural environment feel pain? (3) Does it have rights? or (4) Is moral obligation an inappropriate construct by which to understand the…

Examines environmental moral reasoning and values in African American children and their parents in Houston and Brazilian children in a large city and in a river village along the Amazon. Finds similarities of moral concerns and obligations to the environment in all three communities, structured by concerns for human welfare, fairness, and rights.…

This study investigated children's moral and ecological conceptions and values about an actual, environmentally destructive accident, the large oil spill that occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska in 1989. Sixty children from second, fifth, and eighth grades were interviewed on children's reasoning and understandings about the oil spill which…