Test a rule against the principle it is meant to serve

When a rule and a person’s welfare seem to conflict, name the principle the rule protects and ask whether following the rule still serves it.

Perché funziona

Bataglia and colleagues describe the postconventional stages as reasoning from principles: at stage 5, moral reasoning considers the social contract (the idea that rules rest on agreement among people for their mutual benefit) and individual rights, and at stage 6 it rests on universal ethical principles. In that account, rules are accepted only when they are grounded in principles and general values. Asking what a rule protects separates following it for its purpose from following it only because it exists, and that separation is what the postconventional description turns on.

Come farlo

1. Pick a rule that is pulling you one way in a current situation.
2. Write the principle the rule is there to protect, in one sentence, such as fairness to customers, safety, or trust.
3. Describe a case where following the rule exactly would betray that principle.
4. Decide what you would do, and write which principle you are relying on instead of the rule.

Prove scientifiche

Bataglia, Morais and Lepre (2010) summarize the postconventional stages 5 and 6 in the terms used here. Snarey (1985) reviews 45 cross-cultural studies of Kohlberg’s stages and reports caveats about their range and general applicability, with biases toward complex urban and middle-class populations. The practice applies the principle-based logic to a personal rule and has not been tested. (mechanistic)

Snarey’s abstract reports caveats about the range and general applicability of the stages across cultures, with biases toward complex urban and middle-class populations. It does not say which stages were least supported. Naming a principle is not the same as reasoning from it well, and the exercise cannot tell you which stage you are at.

Fonti

• Bataglia, P. U. R., Morais, A. de, & Lepre, R. M. (2010). A teoria de Kohlberg sobre o desenvolvimento do raciocínio moral e os instrumentos de avaliação de juízo e competência moral em uso no Brasil. Estudos de Psicologia, 15(1), 25–32.
• Snarey, J. R. (1985). Cross-cultural universality of social-moral development: A critical review of Kohlbergian research. Psychological Bulletin, 97(2), 202–232.

Errore comune

Naming a principle that conveniently supports the outcome you already want. Test the principle on a case where it costs you something, or it has not been tested.