Understanding Moral Autonomy and Ethical Development

Moral Autonomy: An Ideal for Life

Conscience

The voice of conscience: The "conscience" is the ability of individuals to hear and judge the rightness or wrongness of actions; it moves and directs the path a person believes to be correct. In popular language, it is known as the inner voice that inspires, compels, and judges the morality of our actions.

Heteronomy and Autonomy

Conscience utilizes principles by which a person governs their life. While we may not always realize what our principles are, we always possess them.

• Heteronomous conscience is guided by:
  • Dictates of instinct
  • Tradition
  • Authority of others
• Autonomous conscience occurs when an individual proposes the moral norms that should govern their own actions.

Autonomy and Universality

Autonomy is tantamount to "self-legislation"—the act of giving oneself one's own laws. In the context of morality, laws must be asserted universally; they are standards that everyone should meet to be truly human. Moral autonomy refers to our ability to be guided by laws we set for ourselves because we recognize them as essential to being human.

The Development of Consciousness

Heteronomous behaviors are related to ease and conformity. Autonomous beings act as masters of their own actions because, ultimately, autonomy is synonymous with freedom. Therefore, the transition from heteronomy to autonomy is considered progress. Individuals possess a conscience that can mature, and societies likewise possess a collective consciousness that can evolve.

Judging with Justice

Moral Judgments in Development

We are not born with a fully formed moral conscience; it is developed through a learning process where sociocultural factors play a key role. Consciousness is fundamental to how we reason about moral issues.

Kohlberg's Theory

Lawrence Kohlberg identifies three levels and six stages of moral development from childhood to adulthood:

• Pre-conventional level: Focuses on selfishness and justice.
• Conventional level: Focuses on social conformity.
• Post-conventional level: Focuses on moral autonomy.

The stages represent the criteria by which a person forms moral judgments.

Moral Conflicts

What is a Moral Dilemma?

A moral dilemma is a case, real or invented, in which the protagonist faces a situation that must be resolved by choosing between two alternative actions that represent inconsistent and conflicting moral values. Most of these dilemmas present conflicts between legal norms and moral values. The dilemma method is widely used in both research and the education of moral values.