Classical Morality Not Conventional Morality

Classical Morality not Conventional Morality A Tract Book Essay By Anthony J. Fejfar, B.A., J.D., Esq., Coif © Copyright 2007 by Anthony J. Fejfar Developmental Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg argued that level 3 moral thinking is conventional morality. I would like to argue that some people at level 3 may seem to conventional, but really aren’t. Conventional Morality means that a person follows a specific authority for moral directions or guidance. So, when a person says that he or she trys to be “good,” this is probably interpreted as being a person who is living up to conventional expectations by unreflectively following some authority. Critical Thomism, a form of neo-thomism, and Neo-Platonism both hold the position that ethically and morally, one is ordered toward The Good, as a metaphysical quiddity, and as an End. The argument is that The Good actually exists, independent of any knower, as a Platonic Form or as a Substantial Form. Thus, it would appear that some persons who appear to be applying conventional moral standards, may instead be applying the post-conventional morality of level 6, individual or universal principles. Thus, these individuals, if they are to be categorized at level 3, are applying Classical Morality, not conventional morality.