From the Heiz dilemma, an individual can ask himself a number of questions:
Should he have stolen the drugs?
What impact would it bring if Heinz did not love his spouse?
What if the dead person was a stranger how different could the situation be?
Do the police have the right to arrest the pharmacist if the patient died?
Kohlberg tried to analyze and discover the moral reasoning that changes as a person grows from childhood stage to older age group. He collected a sample of 80 Chicago boys that were aged between 12-20 years, 60 of them were followed for four-year intervals for a period of 18 years.
Every boy child was given a 3-hours interview questions that were based out of ten different dilemmas. He was interested in how the reasons that they gave from the answers that they picked either right or wrong (Pojman, & Fieser, 2007). One important consideration here is that any human being judgment changes as one grows from young to old. There are three critical different levels of moral judgments each containing two different sub stages. A normal human being can only pass through these levels one at a time. Not everyone can actually move from each stage.
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The Three Kohlberg Stages of Moral Development
Level 1 - Pre-conventional morality
This is the stage of kids who are nine years and below and has no code of morality at personal level. The child’s moral discipline is shaped by their senior adults plus the cost and punishment of breaking the rules. This stage is characterized by Obedience, Punishment and Individualism.
Level 2 - Conventional morality
This is the adolescent and adulthood stage where one begins to internalize the required moral standards required. One begins to have a good interpersonal relationship and maintain a good social order.
Level 3 - Post-conventional morality
An individual base his judgments from his own moral and principles out of one’s judgments. Kohlberg states that at this level, people take their moral views out of those that are surrounding them.
How my Morality has changed from Adolescence to Adulthood
As an adolescent, I learnt to develop good interpersonal skills as I always wanted to be seen good by other people. In addition, I used to maintain a good social order. As an individual, I became aware of the wide social contexts and judgments so that I could not be caught guilty of not upholding the rules of law.
Now that I have grown to be an adult and working, a lot have really changed. Firstly, my individual rights and social contracts. As a child, I used to believe that rules and laws ware there for granted and only work for particular individuals. However, as per the Heinz dilemma, I now come to realize that the right to life is much important than breaking the law (Balswick, King, & Reimer, 2005). Also, I have come to recognize the universal principles I have come to develop my own moral guidelines that may not fit in the law. This includes; human rights, justice, law and order. I am prepared to act upon my principles no matter if I will be going against the will of the community and end up in imprisonment or disapproval. This is contrary to the beliefs of Kohlberg who believes that not many people could have reached this stage.
References
Pojman, L. P., & Fieser, J. (2007). Ethics: Discovering right and wrong . Belmon, Calif: Wadsworth.
Balswick, J. O., King, P. E., & Reimer, K. S. (2005). The reciprocating self: Human development in theological perspective . Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press.
