Editing Moral hierarchy

A '''moral hierarchy''' is a [[hierarchy]] by which actions are ranked by their [[morality]], with respect to a [[moral code]]. 

It also refers to a relationship – such as teacher/pupil or [[guru]]/disciple – in which one party is taken to have greater moral awareness than the other;<ref>[http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j31/moral-hierarchy.asp Moral hierarchy] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20081122224253/http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j31/moral-hierarchy.asp |date=2008-11-22 }}</ref> or to the beneficial hierarchy of parent/child or doctor/patient.<ref>Claude Steiner, in ''The Radical Therapist'' (1974) p. 40-3</ref>

==Kohlberg==

[[Kohlberg's stages of moral development]] have been read as creating a hierarchy of increasing moral complexity,<ref>[http://brianwilliamson.id.au/cit/level1/psych1/kohlberg.pdf Society and the Highest Stage of Moral Development]</ref> ranging from the premoral at the bottom, through the midrange of conventionalism, up to the apex of self-selected morality.<ref>Jane Loevinger, ''Ego Development'' (1976) p. 119-20</ref>

In similar fashion, [[Robin Skynner]] viewed moral ideas (such as the 'myths' of Charis Katakis) as being interpretable at different levels, depending on the degree of mental health attained;<ref>R. Skynner/J. Cleese, ''Life and how to survive it'' (1994) p. 247-54</ref> while [[Eric Berne]] saw the three [[Transactional analysis#The ego-state, or Parent–Adult–Child (PAC), models|ego states]] of Parent/Adult/Child as falling naturally into a moral hierarchy universally respected in both time and place.<ref>Eric Berne, ''Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy'' (1961) p. 60</ref>

==Dante==

[[Dante]]'s universe was structured in a hierarchy of moral sins and moral virtues,<ref>G. S. Jackson, ''The Word and its Witness'' (1999) p. 242</ref> the stratified circles of Hell reaching down for example from the self-indulgent sins at the higher levels, to those of violence below, and the fraudulent at the bottom.<ref>Dante, ''Hell'' (1975) p. 75 and p. 139</ref>

==Confucianism==

The [[Confucius|Confucian]] concept of a moral hierarchy traditionally served as a check on arbitrary power in China.<ref>J. R. Levinson, ''Confucian China and its Modern Fate'' 2 (1965) p. 60</ref>

Arguably at least, the concept of a moral hierarchy still influences China's view of its place in the world today.<ref>Z & S Shih, ''China's Just World'' (1993) p. 2-3</ref>

==Criticism==

Critics charge that the notion of a moral hierarchy is untenable in cases spanning multiple cultures, because moral codes are not equal but different, and therefore there is no way of showing that certain codes are [[Morality|superior]] to others.

Proponents of Kohlberg argue against such a relativistic view of morality, however, by pointing to cross-cultural evidence from more than 30 societies supporting the concept of a hierarchy of levels of moral complexity.<ref>[http://brianwilliamson.id.au/cit/level1/psych1/kohlberg.pdf Society...]</ref>

==See also==

{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
*[[Carol Gilligan]]
*[[James W. Fowler]]
*[[Jane Loevinger]]
*[[Moral high ground]]
*[[Moral psychology]]
*[[Science of morality]]
*[[William McDougall (psychologist)|McDougall]]
}}

==References==

{{Reflist|2|}}

[[Category:Concepts in ethics]]
[[Category:Morality|Hierarchy]]
[[Category:Moral psychology]]
https://themoralhierarchy.com