The construction of moral rationality

Journal/Book: Hum Develop. 1995; 38: Allschwilerstrasse 10, CH-4009 Basel, Switzerland. Karger. 265-281.

Abstract: Rational moral agents have justifiable moral perspectives and genuine moral reasons. A rational constructivist approach to morality highlights the rational basis for morality and posits that moral rationality is actively constructed via reflective processes that cannot be reduced to the causal influence of genetic and/or environmental forces. Cultural transmission and peer interaction are critical, and qualitatively distinct, contexts of moral reflection. A pluralist conception of the construction of moral rationality retains the rational constructivist conception of progress through levels of moral rationality but rejects commitment to a universal sequence of developmental stages. The result is a developmental moral epistemology that accommodates moral pluralism to a greater degree than does standard cognitive developmental theory without lapsing into the moral relativism of social learning theories.

Note: Article D Moshman, Univ Nebraska, Dept Educ Psychol, Lincoln, NE 68588 USA

Keyword(s): constructivism; culture; morality; peer interaction; rationality; reflection; relativism; JUDGMENTS; CONTEXT; TRANSGRESSIONS; UNIVERSALITY; KOHLBERG

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