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.
Why it works
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.
How to do it
- Pick a rule that is pulling you one way in a current situation.
- Write the principle the rule is there to protect, in one sentence, such as fairness to customers, safety, or trust.
- Describe a case where following the rule exactly would betray that principle.
- Decide what you would do, and write which principle you are relying on instead of the rule.
Evidence
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.
Sources
- 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.
Common mistake
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.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development, Made Practical
- Talk through a moral dilemma with someone who reasons differently
Take a real moral question to someone whose reasons you do not share, and listen until you can state their reasons back.
- Argue the other side in its own terms before you judge it
Restate the position you disagree with well enough that the person holding it would say, yes, that is what I think.
- Write the reasons behind a moral verdict, not just the verdict
When you reach a moral conclusion, write down the reasons you gave yourself and check what norm and what problem those reasons rest on.
- Name your gut reaction before you reach for reasons
Notice the first moral reaction you have, label it, and only then start building the case for or against it.
- Check whether your moral conclusion reaches your action
After you decide what is right, name the specific action it requires this week, and check on it, because knowing and doing are separate steps.
- Name which kind of reason is doing the work in your moral choice
Sort the reasons behind a choice into punishment, self-interest, approval, social order, or principle, and notice which one is carrying the decision.
Related concepts
- Lines of Development: Why People Grow Unevenly
Why the same person can be mature in one part of life and young in another, and how to work with it
- Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical
Moving from being run by your assumptions to being able to examine them
- Spiral Dynamics, Made Practical
Understanding how value systems develop and how to navigate across them
- Ego Development Theory: What It Is and How It Is Measured
The frame you make meaning through, how researchers measure it, and how to work with it without ranking anyone
- The Construct-Aware and Unitive Stages of Adult Development
Seeing the self and its stories as constructions — what it looks like, how rare it is, and what it does not promise
- Kegan’s Socialized Mind: What It Gives You and How to Grow Beyond It
When what others think is part of who you are — honoring the stage, and loosening its grip
- Carol Gilligan’s Ethics of Care, Explained
Two ways of reasoning about moral problems, what the research shows, and how to use both lenses
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