A plea for the study of the relation between the Aretaic Morality and the Deontic and Responsibility Moralities

Abstract

Although the deontic, responsibility/caring, and aretaic moralities have been extensively investigated, the relation among them, namely the relation between the aretaic and the deontic and responsibility moralities, have rarely been studied. To fill in this gap is the main goal of this study. In the first part, we set the context for the study of the relation between the aretaic and the deontic and caring moralities, while arguing that Kohlberg’s theory is mainly a deontic moral theory. Second, we elaborate on the reasons why Kohlberg did not introduce an aretaic morality into his theory. Third, we show that Kohlberg’s reasons to exclude this type of morality from his moral theory are problematic. Fourth, we argue that much could be gained if moral psychology took the aretaic morality and its relation to the deontic and caring/responsibility moralities into account. Fifth, we present the main findings of an exploratory research on preadolescents’(n = 32) and adolescents’(n = 32) deontic, aretaic and responsibility evaluations of hypothetical actions, and analyze the relations among these evaluations. Finally, we summarize the main ideas of this study; refer to some of its limitations; point to some examples for future research; and claim that our suggestion of an aretaic-deontic-responsibility model may contribute to the understanding of one’s moral functioning. However, this suggestion requires further methodological and empirical efforts.