Kohlberg's Theory on Moral Development: New Field of Study in Western Science

Kohlberg’s theory on Moral Development opened up a new field of study in Western science. The theory gained momentum in the sixties and seventies and continues to inspire research today (Daeg de Mott, 2007). Kohlberg’s theory was the first of its kind and remains the foundation for all subsequent research into moral reasoning (Daeg de Mott, 2007). Kohlberg wrote the book “The Philosophy of Moral Development”, in 1981. He was also involved in many articles and professional journals, such as “The Just Community School: The Theory and the Cambridge Cluster School Experiment” (World of Sociology, 2005). There are other contributions that Kohlberg’s theory has on society. He explained that morality as a rational intelligence and not just as an emotion, cultural universality of the theory, emphasis on education for Moral Development, and testability (Levine, n.d.). Kohlberg’s theory offers children the opportunity for role taking that induce cognitive conflict so that moral values provide inadequate solutions and values of others provide better solutions (Levine, n.d.). Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Development concerns rules and values about what people should do in their relationship with other people (Weiten & McCann, 2007). He presented hypothetical situations involving Moral Development to a number of American males from age ten to twenty eight, for a period of eighteen years (Duska & Whelan, 1975). One of the most popular examples of hypothetical dilemmas used by Kohlberg was that of a poor man whose ill wife needed a certain type of medication in order to live. A question that arose was, “Does the man justify in stealing the medicine from the pharmacy when he does not have enough money to pay for it?” “Why or Why not?” (Daeg de Mott, page?? 2007). Depending on the responses of the people, determined what stage of Moral Development they fit into. After these eighteen years of examination, Kohlberg noticed that each of his subjects went through the same