Moral Reasoning and Moral Education

Abstract

It is argued that R.W. Beardsmore's account of moral reasoning provides the most satisfactory explanation of moral behaviour and this is supported by an examination of his main criticisms of R.M. Hare and Philippa Foot. The chief educational implication of Beardsmore's account of moral development is, it is suggested, that, though educators cannot be uncommitted on fundamental moral issues, they can, nevertheless, ensure that rational procedures are followed. A committed teacher is not, therefore, necessarily a moral indoctrinator. In conclusion it is suggested that arguments for neutrality rest on mistaken assumptions about the nature of morality and that, without a background of established and accepted values moral education cannot even be considered.     

Moral Intuitions,Moral Expertise and Moral Reasoning1

In this article I examine the consequences of the dominance of intuitive thinking in moral judging and deciding for the role of moral reasoning in moral education. I argue that evidence for the reliability of moral intuitions is lacking. We cannot determine when we can trust our intuitive moral judgements. Deliberate and critical reasoning is needed, but it cannot replace intuitive thinking. Following Robin Hogarth, I argue that intuitive judgements can be improved. The expertise model for moral development, proposed by Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus, not only teaches us how we acquire intuitive moral judgements, it also shows the interconnectedness of intuitive thinking and deliberate reasoning. Analysing the expertise model in more detail, I show that it cannot do justice to the importance of reasoning skills. Reasoning skills are needed because we expect people to be able to argue for their standpoints. I conclude that moral education should not only aim at improving intuitive moral judgements, but also at acquiring reasoning skills.     

情绪在道德推理中的作用

近年来研究表明,自我意识情绪影响个体在道德情境下进行道德推理的过程,移情作为内化的道德取向对道德行为选择和道德价值取向有显著的影响,适度体验羞耻、内疚和自豪的个体,道德推理和决策都倾向于亲社会。文章主要从以上几个方面揭示情绪在道德推理中的作用,旨在更加深入的理解道德推理的发展。     

论道德推理的结构

文章在提出现代健全社会的基本伦理价值系统的基础上考察道德推理的基本特征,它的事实条件和价值条件以及它的组成、结构与层次;进而指出道德多元论是可以用公理方法来进行表述的,这个道德公理方法的特征就在于它的公理体系必须包含协调公理和采用情景推理来解决价值原则之间的冲突问题。本文还依据维特根斯坦的反本质主义认识论创立DrN推理模型。     

Children's Reasoning about Interpersonal and Moral Conflicts

2 studies were conducted to determine if children make judgments about both justice and interpersonal relations in conflictful situations. In Study 1, 48 subjects (24 males and 24 females) in the third, sixth, and ninth grades (mean ages = 8.40, 11.38, 14.38 years) were administered 2 stories entailing conflicts between justice and interpersonal concerns. Children judged and justified acts in 4 conditions systematically varying interpersonal and justice concerns. Children generally gave priority to justice and rights over friendship, based primarily on considerations of welfare or rights. In Study 2, 76 subjects (39 males and 37 females) in the third, sixth, and ninth grades (mean ages = 9.08, 12.10, 14.92 years) were presented with 3 stories entailing conflicts between justice and interpersonal relations. Subjects gave greater priority to interpersonal considerations in Study 2 than in Study 1, and their evaluations varied according to the salience of the different concerns. In both studies, few gender differences were obtained. The results demonstrate that across development, concerns with justice and interpersonal relationships coexist in judgments of male and female children, and that the ways they are applied depend on the situation.     

情绪与道德推理的关系研究

从认识论角度而言,道德推理属于认知阶段的高级形式。传统的认知理论认为情绪是道德思考的阻碍物,近年来研究表明情绪对道德推理有重要的推动作用。本文从自我意识情绪、移情以及情绪和认知三个方面探讨情绪和道德推理的关系,及其对道德教育的启示。     

Ethical Reasoning and the Craft of Moral Practice

Abstract

Non-indoctrinational moral education involves teaching children to engage in ethical inquiry. This means that, since ethical inquiry has the status of a craft, the students will be apprentices in that craft. The classroom becomes, for this purpose, a community of ethical inquiry — an ethical atelier where students learn the tools, methods, practices and procedures which craftsmen associated with that tradition customarily utilize. It is only when one is adept at the generic procedures of reasoning that one can be adept at specifically moral reasoning, but to make the transition possible, the generic procedures should be taught within the humanistic and critical context of philosophy, and within the setting of a community of ethical inquiry.     

科学主义与现代德育的知性化

对科学的迷信与崇拜在思想领域也有明显的反映，如实证主义和逻辑实证主义。科学主义对现代教育与现代德育的影响首先在于对其人性论的改造，使人性“缩水”为理性和知性；其次是科技教育在学校教育中支配地位的获得；最后也是最深刻的影响在于现代教育深层的教育价值取向的知性化。几个方面影响的综合，就是现代教育、尤其是现代德育的知性化。     

Family Interactions and the Development of Moral Reasoning

The study examined parents' role in their children's moral reasoning development. Parents' level of moral reasoning and interaction styles used in discussion of moral issues with their child were used to predict the child's moral development over a subsequent 2-year interval. Participants were 63 family triads (mother, father, and child) with children drawn from grades 1, 4, 7, and 10. They individually responded to a moral reasoning interview and then, as a family, discussed both a hypothetical and real-life moral dilemma. Children were reinterviewed 2 years later. Results indicated that parents did accommodate to their child's level of moral reasoning when in actual dialogue. Distinct differences in interaction styles were found between the 2 contexts (hypothetical vs. real-life dilemma discussion) and between parents and children. Children's moral development was best predicted by a parental discussion style that involved Socratic questioning and supportive interactions, combined with the presentation of higher-level moral reasoning. Implications of these findings for the understanding of parents' role in children's moral development are discussed.     

Moral Reasoning about Sexually Transmitted Diseases

The purpose of this research was to investigate moral reasoning related to sexual behavior that could lead to the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Using hypothetical dilemmas about situations in which STDs can be transmitted, respondents were asked to explain why they believed the characters should or should not engage in risky behaviors. 40 college freshmen ( M = 18.3 years) and 32 college seniors ( M = 22.3 years) participated. Using Kohlberg's moral stage theory and Gilligan's moral orientation model, the interviews were scored for moral stage and moral orientation. Results indicated that the older age group had a significantly higher stage of moral reasoning than the younger age group when responding to dilemmas about STDs. There was a significant difference in moral stage between dilemmas, reflecting the possible effect of dilemma content on moral reasoning. The overall pattern of results shows nonsignificant gender differences in stage of moral reasoning and moral orientation. Clinical and theoretical implications of these findings for understanding the role of moral reasoning in sexual risky behavior are discussed.     

Claiming modernity through clothing: gender and education in Pakistani Muslim and Indian Hindu communities

Through focusing on forms of clothing, this article reveals how educated women from marginalized communities in Pakistan and India made differential claims to being modern. Our analysis of two ethnographic studies shows how the participants mobilized their subjectivities as modern and educated women through a distinction between ‘local modern’ and ‘local traditional’. In this article, our goal is not to define modernity, but instead to illuminate what it meant to be modern in both contexts. We integrate the narratives of young, rural Muslim women in Pakistan with those of young, rural Hindu women in India to disrupt the linear telling of the production of universal and homogenous modernity through education.     

Moral Reasoning and Conduct of Selected Elementary School Students

Abstract

In order to explore the relationship between moral reasoning and conduct, 38 Grade Six students, deemed by their teachers to display ‘delinquent’ or ‘non‐delinquent’ characteristics, were administered Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Instrument (Kohlberg et al., 1973) and an IQ test. Subjects were then randomly assigned to three treatment groups: a) experimental‐‐discussion of moral dilemmas; b) placebo‐‐social studies games; c) control. A month later Kohlberg's instrument was readministered.

Findings indicated that ‘delinquents’ and ‘non‐delinquents’ differed significantly (p = .001) on moral reasoning scores at both testing times. There was no statistically significant treatment effect (p = .06). Intelligence quotient was significantly and positively related to moral reasoning for ‘non‐delinquents’, but not for ‘delinquents’.     

Education in Europe and Muslim Demands for Competitive and Moral Education

International Review of Education - While European education systems fundamentally rest on a rather monolithic world-view, some of them are explicitly oriented towards Christianity and others are...     

Education in Europe and Muslim Demands for Competitive and Moral Education

While European education systems fundamentally rest on a rather monolithic world-view, some of them are explicitly oriented towards Christianity and others are comparatively secular. Apart from this, they differ in the way that they offer opportunities for Muslim minorities to enjoy a modern and competitive as well as religious-moral education. Principally, there are three approaches. The first allows private Muslim schools which are neither subsidized nor controlled or regulated by the state. Other countries require Muslim schools to apply for approval, and such schools are then subsidized and regulated; but they do not have to teach a national curriculum. In a third group of countries, only schools that teach the national curriculum are permitted, and they are subsidized and controlled by the state. In the latter case, because Islamic matters are not taught in these schools, many Muslim parents send their children to non-formal Qur’anic schools in the evening or during weekends. This study examines some typical arrangements in a number of countries.     

青少年主体性道德教育与创造性培养

学校主体性道德教育的内容包括提高青少年的创新意识和自我意识,培养青少年的道德价值观,发展青少年的社会适应能力,塑造青少年的亲社会人格。创造性是主体性道德教育的核心。青少年团体活动是有效的学校主体性道德教育和创造性培养的方法。     

Going Deep into Mechanisms for Moral Reasoning Growth: How Deep Learning Approaches Affect Moral Reasoning Development for First-year Students

The purpose of this paper was to determine the effects of deep approaches to learning on the moral reasoning development of 1,457 first-year students across 19 institutions. Results showed a modest positive relationship between our measures of deep approaches to learning and moral reasoning at the end of the first year of college even after controlling for precollege moral reasoning. After accounting for a host of demographic and relevant student characteristics and for the natural clustering of students, we found that the integrative learning subscale, which captures students’ participation in activities designed to integrate information from varied sources and diverse perspectives, positively affected moral reasoning among first-year students. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

我国儿童与青少年品德心理研究综述

本文从道德认知、道德情感、道德意志和道德行为等方面对我国儿童与青少年品德心理研究的历史发展和研究成果作了较全面的回顾和总结 ,并对存在的问题提出了一些看法     

哈佛道德推理课程对我国高校道德教育的启示

哈佛道德推理课程是哈佛大学本科核心课程七大部分之一,道德推理课程帮助学生接受较高的道德标准,以经典阅读和探究性学习为主,注重对学生思辨能力的培养和西方伦理道德观念的建构,使学生具备作出合理的道德和政治选择能力.哈佛道德推理课程在教育理念、教学方式和课程建构方面的科学性,对我国高校道德教育的改革和创新有很好的启示.     

Separating Judicial from Legislative Reasoning in Moral Dilemma Interviews

Unlike previous studies of the development of reasoning about moral dilemmas, the 2 studies reported separated judicial reasoning (the application of rules) from legislative reasoning (the justification of rules), as well as attending to other aspects of context, using a modification of the weakly interpretive scoring method of Langford and D'Cruz. This assigns justifications to relatively simple conceptually defined categories. Findings were in accord with substantially modified versions of the views of Piaget and Kohlberg, according to which legislative reasoning can be divided into 3 main types of stages in the period 7–21 years: heteronomy (Piaget) or egocentrism (Kohlberg); local groups (attention to group interests, harmony, and reciprocity in local groups), wider groups (attention to these thing in wider groups). Findings contradicted Gibbs's theory.