LogFAQs > #942142257

If youre familiar with Kohlbergs stages of moral development, I would say it gets at the distinction between pre-conventional moral reasoning (moral decisions are egocentric and made based on whether they will personally be punished or rewarded in some way) and conventional moral reasoning (moral decisions are informed by societys laws, rules, and expectations and there is an understanding that obedience and maintaining standards of behavior are necessary to have a functional society)

I would say its a bit of a stretch to say you can fully self-govern (whatever is meant by that) operating solely at the conventional level, as it is at the post-conventional level that one has more of the capacity to evaluate rules and whether they are just, appropriate, and practical, and able to better develop, modify, and adapt the rules to given circumstances or changing situations.

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