Moral Development

As a postconventional moral person (always had a strong sense of right and wrong & don't easily sway to negative peer pressure), I think the postconventional morality example is pretty crappy. I mean look at it, it's so vague and is the shortest example out of the three stages. An example that involves "vigilante justice" or laws of absolute morality would have been a more suitable example.

Anyhow... In the 1970's, psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg was interested in moral reasoning (why a person makes a decision about what is right and wrong) in hypothetical "moral dilemmas", so he came up with three stages for moral development:

1st stage is "preconventional morality" (self-serving/all about me) 30% of people fall into this primitive stage. A good example of preconventionally moral people would be the degenerate pro-porn jerk-offs I deal with on a daily to weekly basis. All they mostly care about is their perverted temporary self-pleasure and hedonistic gratification despite the moral and health expenses they have upon many others (including themselves and the children being sexualized or sexually violated by porn-inspired pedophiles). Scum of the scum. Lowest of the low.

2nd stage is "conventional morality" (approval-seeking/abide by the law and obey what the cops say) MOST people, approx. 50% of them, fall into this stage, most likely because they don't want to get their reputation burnt and ass handed-over to prison otherwise a good lot of them would be stuck in stage 1. Their moral compass is limited by the subjective man-made law. A good example of a conventionally moral person would be people who take a neutral approach to important issues (neither pro___ or anti___) as long as it doesn't violate the civil or criminal laws...which by the way, are upheld by an unreliable criminal justice system (corrupt piece of crap). If your morals are limited by government-based law (which is dynamic and differs in different places) then honestly, you need a better set of morals. "Just because it's not illegal doesn't mean it's okay."

Now for the 3rd stage in all its light and glory, the "postconventional morality" stage. ONLY 20% of people fall into this stage, these people are considered the rarest in terms of all three stages (sadly). These people have a strong sense of justice. Their morals extending beyond civil laws based on their idealistic abstract principles and higher level of thinking. They feel a strong obligation to uphold moral values for the greater good of society. Sometimes it's "screw the laws as long as everyone is saved". Vigilante justice, anyone? A good example of those who are postconventionally moral are most of the anti-porn activists out there as they take the risk to fight against the status quo even though in return they don't get paid for it and may damage their own reputation (get ostracized or made fun of for doing good basically)...but as long as they protect the innocent or well-being of everyone either for health and/moral reasons, prevent further emotional + physical damages within our society, justice from the evil grasps of porn, and overall create positive world change, that's what matters to them the most.

So yeah...most people fall into the 2nd stage followed by the 1st stage. No wonder why I'm often anxious and depressed. Those who are stuck in 1st stage have "retarded moral development" as mentioned by my prof. I guess being in 3rd stage makes me a moral genius then but being a genius does have its downside when you're surrounded by people who are less of a genius...disappointment and depression. Anyhow, I'm glad I'm not the only moral genius out there even though it's extremely hard to find someone who is on the same level me in terms of morality especially in this neoliberal day and age. —Empress Cynthia