Question

Discuss Kohlberg's theory of Moral Development found in chapter 9 p. 296. Read the moral dilemma the man named Heinz faced (also found below), examine your own moral stage of development according to Kohlberg's theory and discuss what you would do if you were facing the same or similar moral dilemma.

"In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the
doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had
recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times
what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small
dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the
money, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the
druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the
druggist said: “No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it.” So Heinz got
desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should the husband have
done that? (Kohlberg, 1969, p. 379)"

Please please help me

Answer 1

No the husband should not have done that. Hes drugging his own wife which is bad.

Answer 2

Although the situation that Heinz faces is hopeless and for this reason it motivated his desperate action, I believe that his place, I would look for other people who manufacture the medicine, for not believing that breaking into a property and practicing theft is the correct thing. If I didn't find another supplier of the drug, I would try to make deals with the first, even if I owed a large amount of money.

I would do this to keep myself away from illegalities that could make me a criminal and keep me away from my wife who needs care.

According to Kohlberg's theory of moral development, we can say that my thinking fits into the conventional level and stage 4.

The conventional level is characterized by the individual's desire to remain within morality, obeying the established rules of social conduct. Stage 4, within this level, refers to individuals who want to keep their actions within the concepts of obedience to authority and social order.