Lawrence Kohlberg
Morality grows in the reasons behind our choices.
American developmental psychologist known for a stage theory of moral reasoning.
Moral development can be understood through the reasons people give for their choices.
Who they were
Lawrence Kohlberg listened not to what people decided in a dilemma, but to why. From those reasons he traced a path of moral growth: from avoiding punishment, to keeping social rules, to standing on principles one would defend even at a cost. Morality, he argued, develops like thought itself.
Famous books
What they left on the shelf
Terms they cared about
Ideas worth knowing
Their techniques
How the work was done
Best known as a theorist — their ideas shaped the techniques of those who followed.
Their big idea
Stages of Moral Development
Lawrence Kohlberg proposed that moral reasoning develops through stages — preconventional, conventional and postconventional — marked not by which choice a person makes but by the kind of justification they give for it.
Questions in their spirit
What they’d ask you
Sit with one. Answer online, or in the app.
Carry the idea forward
Kohlberg — What they’d ask you
Psipas asks you one small, honest question at a time — and builds the picture from your answers.