Page 110 - Communication and the Evolution of Society

87 Moral Development and Ego Identity

actions (duty and inclination)—that is, the validity of a norm
from the mere facticity of an expression of will (level IT); and
finally he must be able to distinguish between heteronomy and
autonomy, that is, to see the difference between merely tradi-
tional (or imposed) norms and those which are justified in prin-
ciple. The three levels are distinguished by degrees of abstraction
and differentiation: the orientations that guide action become
more and more abstract—from concrete needs through duties to
the autonomous will—and at the same time more and more
differentiated in regard to the validity claim of rightness (or
“justice’”’) that is connected with norms of action.
The third dimension grasps the perception of a component
of general role qualifications which, if I am correct, presupposes
the other two and has both cognitive and motivational sides. At
first the actions and actors perceived are context-dependent, that
is, concrete—there exists only the particular (level I). At the
next level symbolic structures must be differentiated into general
and particular—namely, individual actions vis-a-vis norms, and
individual actors vis-a-vis role bearers. At the third level it must
be possible to examine particular norms from the point of view
of generalizability, so that the distinction between particular and
general norms becomes possible. On the other side, actors can no
longer be understood as a combination of role attributes; rather
they count as individuated subjects who, through employing
principles, can each organize an unmistakable biography. In
other words, at this stage individuality and the “ego in general”
{Ich uberhaupt} must be differentiated. Here the levels are dis-
tinguished by degrees of generalization.
A glance at the columns I have just elucidated shows that role
qualifications can be placed in a certain hierarchy from the formal
viewpoints of (a) reflexivity, (b) abstraction and differentiation,
and (c) generalization. This provides initial grounds for the
conjecture that a deeper analysis could identify a developmental-
logical pattern in Piaget’s sense. In the present context, I shall
have to let the matter rest with this conjecture. If it is correct,
the same would have to hold for the stages of moral conscious-
ness, insofar as these can be derived from the levels of role
competence. This derivation as well can only be sketched here.