Posted by:
summer
(
)
Date: October 18, 2021 06:40PM
If you look at Lawrence Kohlberg's Scale of Moral Development, Mormonism doesn't come in very high on the scale:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Kohlberg%27s_stages_of_moral_development"Kohlberg's six stages can be more generally grouped into three levels of two stages each: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional.[9][10][11] Following Piaget's constructivist requirements for a stage model, as described in his theory of cognitive development, it is extremely rare to regress in stages—to lose the use of higher stage abilities.[16][17] Stages cannot be skipped; each provides a new and necessary perspective, more comprehensive and differentiated than its predecessors but integrated with them.[16][17]
Kohlberg's Model of Moral Development
Level 1 (Pre-Conventional)
1. Obedience and punishment orientation
(How can I avoid punishment?)
2. Self-interest orientation
(What's in it for me?)
(Paying for a benefit)
Level 2 (Conventional)
3. Interpersonal accord and conformity
(Social norms)
(The good boy/girl attitude)
4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
(Law and order morality)
Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
5. Social contract orientation
6. Universal ethical principles
(Principled conscience)
The understanding gained in each stage is retained in later stages, but may be regarded by those in later stages as simplistic, lacking in sufficient attention to detail."
**At best,** Mormonism is constructed to be mid-level in terms of moral development. There is no training or expectation that Mormons can make complex, unique moral decisions. Instead, there is the expectation that one is to follow the guidance of the (rather unispired) Mormon leadership.