QUESTION 1:
Note 2 things you have done or experienced that reflect 2 different stages of moral development. Comment on what happened and why you think it reflects the particular stage you identified.
QUESTION 2:
1. Comment on the issue of plea bargaining as a consequentialist, utilitarian criminal justice practice. Specifically, consider the degree to which plea bargaining results, or does not result, in “the greatest good,” and how YOU would feel (or have felt) when confronted with the choice to plea to a lesser charge in return for a certain, but less severe sentence. Would you do it? Or, would you want to take your case to a “jury of your peers?” What would influence your decision and why?
2. How do you determine whether and to what degree to pursue the “happiness principle?” How do YOU make decisions regarding immediate pleasure vs. some other objective? What matters to you? For example, there are far more fun things you could be doing right now rather than answeriing this question, yet here you are. Why?
QUESTION 3:
1. Discuss some of the ethical issues you see in the 2 stories described in this week’s lecture notes (SEE BELOW). What really matters here? At what stage of Kohlberg’s “Stages of Moral Development” are these participants operating?
2. Do you agree or disagree with Gilligan that women and men should be assessed differently in terms of moral development? Do you agree with her argument that women and men are subject to different expectations in terms of how they evolve ethically?
