Moral Development

Moral development is a very important construct for everyday decisions, especially when they involve other people feelings and perception of what morality constitutes. Moral development also plays a big role when it comes to dealing with ethical dilemmas. The Heinz dilemma, is an interesting scenario to help understand one’s moral development. In this dilemma, Heinz is a poor man with a wife who is dying of cancer. Heinz learns there’s a cure for his wife’s cancer, but the cure is being sold for ten times over its cost to manufacture. Since Heinz cannot afford this cure on his own, he went and borrowed money from his acquaintances to help purchase the drug, but only raised half the money he needed. Heinz even tried to appeal to the emotions of the pharmacist who developed the drug, so he could buy the drug at a cheaper price, but was turned down, even with his dying. Heinz was desperate to save the life of his wife, and ultimately broke in.to the pharmacist’s establishment and stole the drug, in hopes to save his wife’s life. Some people would see what Heinz did as the wrong thing to do, and some would see what he did as the right thing to do. It all depends on one’s own moral development.

        I for one, thinks Heinz did what was right by breaking in the store to save his wife’s life, and if I were in his shoes, I would have done the same thing. In my opinion, Heinz did everything in his power to save his wife the legal way, but it is important to note that legal doesn’t always equate to being right (e.g. slavery). Heinz did what he thought was right, considering his circumstances, and he deemed his wife’s life more important than the consequences he would be faced with as a result of his actions, and I agree that he did the right thing.

In terms of Kohlberg’s Moral development levels and stages, Heinz’s moral reasoning correlate with level three: post conventional moral reasoning, which is centered on moral principles and ideals. Also, the stage of moral development that Heinz actions most relates to is stage 6: Universal ethical principles. The reason I think Heinz’s moral reasoning is reflective of stage 6 of Kohlberg’s moral development stages is because Heinz had to reflect on his situation, and decided that he would not act in his own interest or the interest of the community/legal environment, but in the interest of saving a life. Heinz’s moral reasoning was contradictory of egocentric and legal values because he would certainly go to jail once it is discovered that he not only broke into the drug store, but also stole a very expensive drug. Considering Heinz options, his moral reasoning behind his actions appear to reflect his ethical value that life is sacred, which I agree with whole-heartedly.

Almost every has dealt with a situation where they had to make a moral judgement call. I am no exception. I remember a time when I had to make a moral decision. I was interning at big accounting firm in downtown Chicago. I had just finished my shift and started making my way to the bus stop to go home. By the bus stop, I saw a lady with a sign saying she needed money to buy food. Unfortunately, I only brought enough change to take the bus to work and back home. I really wanted to help this person but knew I would not be able to make it back home. I was torn inside.

As I was contemplating my options, a well-dressed man was passing the poor woman. As expected, she stuck her hands out in hopes of catching a break. The man made a gesture appearing not to have any cash on him. Just as he made some distance from the lady, I seen the well-dressed man reach into his pocket to answer his phone and at the same time, something drop from the man’s pockets. I walked to wear the man dropped the item. To my surprise, the item the man dropped was a folded up twenty dollar bill. I attempted to return the man’s money before he got too far from the bus stop, but he blew me off completely, and continued walking while he was on the phone.

At this moment, I had a couple of options I could make. The first option was I could have continued bothering the man until he noticed I was trying to return what was his. The second option was I could keep the money for myself. The third option was I could give the poor lady the money. The fourth option was I could buy the poor lady some food and give her the remaining change or keep the remaining change for myself.

I asked the poor lady if she would like a burger from McDonald’s. I watched lady’s face glow up as she shook her head yes. I decided to buy the lady a 2 cheeseburger meal and gave her the remaining change instead of keeping it for myself. She told me that was the first “real meal” she had had in two days. I told her no one should have to go a day hungry and told her I would buy her lunch for as long as my internship lasted. Although, I felt slightly guilty for the man, I felt better knowing I helped the poor lady out who was struggling just to feed herself on a daily basis.