the six stages of moral development & huck finn. 1. you are going to walk through a hypothetical...

The Six Stages of Moral

Development & Huck Finn

1. You are going to walk through a hypothetical case study to discuss and learn about the types of moral choices we make daily.

2. Take notes on your handouts during the case study to track your moral development.

3. We will apply what we learn to Huck’s choices in the novel. Understanding Huck’s moral development in the novel (especially when considering his last choice) will help you understand Mark Twain’s purpose for writing the novel.

The Heinz Scenario, Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development, and

Huck Finn

Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development is a theory that moral reasoning, the basis for ethical behavior, has six developmental stages, each more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than its predecessor. For his studies, Kohlberg relied on stories such as the Heinz Dilemma, and was interested in how individuals would justify their actions if placed in similar moral dilemmas. He analyzed the

Form of moral reasoning displayed, rather

than its conclusion.

The Heinz Dilemma

Imagine you are on a committee of highly respected psychoanalysts. As a group your moral insight will help decide the fate of a

controversial case. *

Question: Is Heinz a criminal or a hero?

Instructions

1. Write down your response for each scenario on your handout.

2. The ambiguity of each scenario will lead to several different opinions within the class. Discuss and defend your opinions as to what decisions should be made before moving to the next scenario.

3. It is important that you stick to the allotted amount of time. After you get through each scenario you will determine which stage of moral thinking and development your choices were in. After, we will apply what we learn to Huckleberry Finn.

The Heinz Dilemma: Scenario 1

Heinz’s wife is near death; her only hope is a recently-discovered drug. The drug costs $20,000 to make, but the pharmacist who manufactures it sells it for $200,000. Heinz was rejected by his medical insurance company so he went to everyone he knew to borrow the money. After exhausting every legal means, he could only raise $20,000. Heinz appealed to the pharmacist to take what he had. When he was rejected again, he offered to pay installments. Still, the pharmacist refused. In desperation, Heinz considers stealing the drug.

Should Heinz break into the doctor’s laboratory

to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?


Heinz broke into the laboratory and stole the drug. The next day, the newspaper reported the break-in and theft. Brown, a police officer and a good friend of Heinz remembered seeing Heinz last evening and thought he was behaving suspiciously. Later that night, he saw Heinz running away from the laboratory.

Should Brown report what he saw?Why or why not?


Officer Brown reported what he saw. Heinz was arrested and brought to court. If convicted, he faces up to fifteen years in jail. Heinz was found guilty by a jury and awaits the judge’s sentence.

Should the judge sentence Heinz to prison?Why or why not?

Take notes on the six stages ofmoral development. You need to write enough to understand and eventually

apply your knowledge of thedifference between each stage.

Understanding the Six Stages of Moral Development

Remember, what you think Heinz should do is not as important as how you justify your thinking, or the form of your response. The stages we will discuss come from how we think about moral problems. As we get into discussions and debates with others, we find our views questioned and challenged and are therefore motivated to come up with new, more comprehensive positions. New stages reflect these broader viewpoints as we grow in our moral development (Kohlberg et al., 1975).

How many of you changed your minds or considered other points of view when during one of the scenarios?

Stage 1: Obedience

Punishment-Obedience OrientationThe physical consequences of an action determine its goodness or badness regardless of the human meaning or value of these consequences.

Good behavior is motivated byavoiding punishment

Possible Stage 1 Responseto The Heinz Dilemma

Avoiding Punishment

Heinz should not steal the drug because he might be caught and sent to jail.

Stage 2: Self-Interest

Instrumental Relativist Orientation

The right action is “That which satisfies one's own needs and occasionally the needs of others."

The ideas of fairness, reciprocity and equal sharing shape this stage. Reciprocity is a matter of “you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours,” not of loyalty, gratitude or justice.

The concern is "What's in it for me?”

Possible Stage 2 Responses to the Heinz Dilemma

Back Scratching or Fairness

It is right for Heinz to steal the drug because it can cure his wife. This will make him happier, even if he must go to prison.

…The pharmacist invested a lot of money and many years of his life to develop the cure so it's not fair to him that Heinz stole the drug.

Stage 3: Conformity

Good Boy-Nice Girl OrientationGood behavior is that which pleases or helps others and is approved by them. There is much conformity to stereotypical images of what is majority or 'natural' behavior.

”What will my friends think?””Am I doing the right thing?”

”WW_D?”


1) Yes, Heinz should steal the drug. He probably will go to jail for a short time for stealing but people will applaud him for saving a life.

2) Officer Brown should report that he saw Heinz behaving suspiciously and running away from the laboratory because the police department would be pleased with his service and loyalty.

3) Officer Brown should not report what he saw because he’s not the kind of guy who would “rat” on a friend.

4) The judge should not sentence Heinz to jail for stealing the drug because he meant well ... he only stole it to cure his wife and most of the jury agrees.

Stage 4: Law and Order*

Right behavior consists in doing one's duty, showing respect for authority and maintaining the given social order for its own sake.

The concern now goes beyond one's immediate group (s) to larger society and the maintenance of law and order. One's obligation to the law overrides obligations of loyalty to family, friends and other groups. To put it simply, no one or group is above the law. Actions have consequences.

Kohlberg found that the majority of the population does not make moral decisions beyond this level.


1) As her husband, Heinz has a duty to save his wife's life so he should steal the drug. But it's wrong to steal, so Heinz should be prepared to accept the penalty for breaking the law.

2) The judge should sentence Heinz to jail. Stealing is against the law! He should not make any exceptions even though Heinz‘s wife is dying.

Stage 5: Human Rights

Social Contract OrientationRight action is based on standards which have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society.

Social utility or public interest determines what is best for everyone. Rules are needed to maintain social order; however, as Ralph Waldo Emerson has stated, “Good men must not obey the laws too well.”


Human Rights

Making Exceptions

Heinz should steal the drug because everyone has the right to life regardless of the law against stealing. Should Heinz be caught and prosecuted for stealing then the law needs to be reinterpreted because a person's life is at stake.

The pharmacist’s decision is despicable but his right to fair compensation (for his discovery) must be maintained. Therefore, Heinz should not steal the drug. Even if his wife is sick, it does not make his actions right.

Stage 6: Universal Human Ethics

"Right is defined by the decision of conscience

in accord with fundamental ethical principles

appealing to logical comprehensiveness,

universality and consistency.”

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed

by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”


Heinz should steal the drug to save his wife because preserving human life is a higher moral obligation than preserving property.

Heinz should not steal the medicine because others may need to drug just as badly, and their lives are equally significant.

What Stage Do YOU Fall In?

Understanding the Six Stages of Moral Development

Huck Finn Moral Development Project

1. In small groups (5 max) select one of the following chapters: 15, 16, 26, 31, 33, 40, 42, or another approved by me.

2. Write down choices Huck makes in the chapter and select specific passages that show these choices.

3. Next, explain what stage of moral development you think his choice falls under and why.

4. You will present your findings to the class next week in Socratic style by summarizing/performing specific passages that show moral development. Then, ask high-level questions of your peers about their thoughts on Huck’s moral development before offering your own opinions.

Chapte

r 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 26

Chapter 31

Chapter 33

Chapter 40

Chapter

42

Moral Development & Huck Finn

Chapter

&

Page #Summary of Huck’s

Decision

sStage of Mora

l Development Explanati

on

Moral Development: Chap 8

"Well, dey's reasons. But you wouldn' tell on me ef I uz to tell you, would you, Huck?”

"Blamed if I would, Jim.”

"Well, I b'lieve you, Huck. I -- run off.”

"Jim!”

"But mind, you said you wouldn' tell -- you know you said you wouldn' tell, Huck.”

"Well, I did. I said I wouldn't, and I'll stick to it. Honest injun, I will. People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum -- but that don't make no difference. I ain't a-going to tell, and I ain't a-going back there, anyways. So, now, le's know all about it."

What stage is this? Discuss

Huck’s Moral Development: Chap 15

It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way.


Moral Development: Chap 16 P. 93

“I tried to make out to myself that I warn't to blame, because I didn't run Jim off from his rightful owner; but it warn't no use, conscience up and says, every time, "But you knowed he was running for his freedom, and you could a paddled ashore and told somebody." That was so -- I couldn't get around that noway. That was where it pinched. Conscience says to me, "What had poor Miss Watson done to you that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word?

(read to end of paragraph in book)



“Watching the two men blubber on and lament their dear, beloved dead "brother," Huck comments that, "it was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.“



“I says to myself, this is another one that I'm letting him rob her of her money. And when she got through they all jest laid theirselves out to make me feel at home and know I was amongst friends. I felt so ornery and low down and mean that I says to myself, my mind's made up; I'll hive that money for them or bust.”



"Well, then, if you re bound to go, I'll tell you the way to do when you get to the village. Shut the door and blindfold the doctor tight and fast, and make him swear to be silent as the grave, and put a purse full of gold in his hand, and then take and lead him all around the back alleys and everywheres in the dark, and then fetch him here in the canoe, in a roundabout way amongst the islands, and search him and take his chalk away from him, and don't give it back to him till you get him back to the village, or else he will chalk this raft so he can find it again. It's the way they all do."

So I said I would, and left, and Jim was to hide in the woods when he see the doctor coming till he was gone again.



"No, I ain't out of my head; I know all what I'm talking about. We did set him free -- me and Tom. We laid out to do it, and we done it. And we done it elegant, too." He'd got a start, and she never checked him up, just set and stared and stared, and let him clip along, and I see it warn't no use for me to put in. "Why, Aunty, it cost us a power of work -- weeks of it -- hours and hours, every night, whilst you was all asleep. And we had to steal candles, and the sheet, and the shirt, and your dress, and spoons, and tin plates, and case-knives, and the warming-pan, and the grindstone, and flour, and just no end of things, and you can't think what work it was to make the saws, and pens, and inscriptions, and one thing or another, and you can't think half the fun it was. And we had to make up the pictures of coffins and things, and nonnamous letters from the robbers, and get up and down the lightning-rod, and dig the hole into the cabin, and made the rope ladder and send it in cooked up in a pie, and send in spoons and things to work with in your apron pocket -- "



“Tom's most well now, and got his bullet around his neck on a watch-guard for a watch, and is always seeing what time it is, and so there ain't nothing more to write about, and I am rotten glad of it, because if I'd a knowed what a trouble it was to make a book I wouldn't a tackled it, and ain't a-going to no more. But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before.”

Considering all Huck has been through, this maybe one of his most important decisions. Knowing what you know about Mark Twain, and his satirical jests at religion and institutions of slavery, what point is Twain making through Huck at the end? What level of morality would this be?

Huck’s Moral Development Journal Response

Now consider some of Huck’s behavior and choices from the beginning of the text. List some of his pranks and decisions in your journal. Next answer the questions from the writing prompt at the bottom of the screen.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 7 Chapter 10

Chapter 13 Chapter 18 Chapter 32 Chapter 34

Tom’s Sawyer’s

gang does not steal on Sunday.

Huck and Tom give the

money to the judge.

Huck fakes his death, and

hides from the town.

Huck tricks Jim with the snake.

He will not admit fault.

Huck says that stealing a

chicken is really borrowing as

long as you plan to give it back.

Huck lies when swearing in

because it is a dictionary and

not a bible.

Huck impersonates Tom Sawyer at Aunt Salley’s.

Huck and Tom prolong Jim’s

capture for their entertainment.

They then steal/free him.

While considering how Huck develops as a character throughout the text, do Huck’s moral decisions become more complex by the end despite the examples above? Does Huck become less of a trouble

maker? Omitting the examples above, when do you think Twain uses Huck to make a moral statement to the reader?

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