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SYMPOSIUM: THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL VALUES IN CHILDREN
Author(s) -
PETERS R. S.
Publication year - 1960
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1960.tb01688.x
Subject(s) - freudian slip , morality , lawrence kohlberg's stages of moral development , moral development , epistemology , psychology , ignorance , psychoanalysis , philosophy , social psychology
S ummary . The purpose of this article is to develop some conceptual distinctions in order to explore the relationship between Piaget's and Freud's theories of moral development and to suggest questions to which both theories give rise. Piaget, it is argued, did little more than show that the distinction between customary and rational morality actually has application. Freud's theory assumed rational morality as an end‐point of development but his actual moral theory dealt only with (i) the mechanisms by means of which customary morality gets handed on from generation to generation and with (ii) the reasons why people develop an exaggerated and distorted style of rule‐following and never emerge to a more rational type of morality. Neither Freud nor Piaget, it is argued, have a positive theory about the conditions under which the development towards rational morality tends to take place, except for suggestions in Freudian theory about necessary conditions such as a proper love relationship in the early years. Indeed, there is general ignorance about the results of different methods of passing on rules, methods which need to be carefully distinguished from each other. It is suggested, finally, that the development in Freudian theory of the theory of the ‘autonomous ego’ might do much to unify Freud's and Piaget's theories and to suggest fruitful lines of investigation.