ABSTRACT

Justice reasoning of the Kohlbergian sort is an element of the second component. Rest attempts to enlarge the moral domain by considering alternative stage models that adequately capture the complexity of moral development and by considering additional components that adequately capture the complexity of moral functioning. This chapter examines Kohlberg's important research program. Moral deliberation begins when one attempts to interpret the situation. Real moral quandaries are rarely structured quite as neatly as hypothetical dilemmas. Real moral quandaries are usually shrouded in a fog of moral ambiguity. The componential model rightly suggests that there are many kinds of cognitions that contribute to moral deliberation and that moral behavior is not a straightforward deduction from any one kind of cognitive process. The considerations lead Colby and Kohlberg to conclude that spontaneous productions of moral judgments can be characterized by hard stages, with hierarchical transformation and displacement, but that hard stages do not characterize comprehension and preference.