ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the adequacy of Kohlberg's account of the role of habit in moral development. In Kohlberg account of moral development a principled morality is contrasted with a morality of character-traits. Kohlberg's contention that specific character-traits, such as honesty, which function as habits, are of little significance in the moral life, is paralleled by his claim that learning theorists have produced no evidence of the influence of early forms of habit training on adult behavior. If Kohlberg's cross-cultural claims are confirmed, they are the most important findings in the psychology of morals since those of Piaget, which have often been criticised for being culture-bound. The chapter elaborates the Piaget's three stages of egocentric, transcendental and autonomous morality. 'Morality' can be used as a classificatory term by means of which a form of interpersonal behaviour can be distinguished from custom, law, religious codes.
