As previously explained, the moral agent, the human person, is a being capable of acting "with reference to right and wrong," that is, one who is capable of being moral, having a moral character.

Social psychologists look at the moral agent as he is, where he is, in the society where he lives. From birth, he/she is cared, nurtured and influenced by the world around him/her. He/she grows up in a family, develops in a society, and thus he/she is exposed to all the do's and don'ts of his/her family and his/her society. His/her moral life, his/her norms and moral standards, are shaped by the prevalent cultural influences. In other words, as disclosed and unveiled as he/she is, the moral agent undergoes development.

Moral development refers to the "process through which a human person gains his/her beliefs, skills and dispositions that make him/her a morally mature person. William A. Kay (1970) has the following to say regarding the nature of moral development.

... Just as the pattern of intellectual growth can be simply described as passing through stages of animal behavior, pre-logical thinking, thought governed by empirical logic and finally by formal logic, so morality can be described as passing through stages of behavior controlled first, by taboo; then second, by law; third by conscience (i.e. irrational, introjected values); fourth, by reciprocity; fifth, by social consensus and finally by personal moral principles, though not necessarily in that order.

Stated differently, the five stages may be reduced to three as follows:

• The amoral stage - egocentric, hedonist and prudential considerations.

• The pre-moral stage authoritarian, ego-idealist, social and reciprocal considerations.

• The moral stage-personal, autonomous, altruistic, rational, independent and responsible considerations

Lets analyze your answers in the Activity phase of this lesson. If your reasons to go to school are I am afraid to be dropped and fail" and to show to my parents that I am a good student you are in the a-moral's ego-idealist stage. If you go to school everyday because "I promised to my parents I will never be absent" that is William Kay's pre moral stage (social and reciprocal consideration.) f your reason is "it is the right thing to do," you have reached Kay's moral stage- personal, autonomous, rational, independent and rational considerations.

Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development

Moral development refers to the "process through which a human person, gains his/her beliefs, skills and dispositions that makes him/he morally mature person". Kohlberg (2013) describes the stages of moral development in 3 stages, namely: Level 1-Pre-conventional morality 2-Conventional morality, and Level 3 Post-Conventional morality. Each level has two stages each so that there are six stages of moral development.

They are described in detail below:

Level 1 - Pre-conventional morality

This is the lowest level of moral development in Kohlberg's theory. At the pre-conventional level children don't have a personal code of morality. Instead, their moral code is controlled by the standards of adults and the consequences of following or breaking adults' rules. Authority is outside the individual and reasoning is based on the physical consequences of actions. There is no internalization of moral values.

• Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation. The child/individual does good in order to avoid being punished. If he/she is punished, he/she must have done wrong. Children obey because adults tell them to obey. Moral decisions are based on fear of punishment. It is a matter of obey or you get punished. e.g. Josef does not cheat because he is afraid of a punishment, a failing grade and "I go to school because I am afraid to be dropped and fail.

• Stage 2: Instrumental Orientation. Right behavior is defined by whatever the individual believes to be in his/her best interest. "What's in it for me?" In this stage there is limited interest in the needs of others, only to the point where it might further the individual's own interests. It is a matter of "you scratch my back, and l will scratch yours mentality. An example would be when a child is asked by his parents to do a chore. The child asks "what's in it for me?" and the parents offer the child a reward by giving him a treat. In this stage, right involves equal exchange. e-g. Mario sees Juan get Miguel's pen. Soon he sees Miguel retaliate by taking Juan's favorite pen. Mario does not report the incident to the teacher because they involve equal exchanges.

Level 2: Conventional

Throughout the conventional level, a child's sense of morality is tied to personal and societal relationships. Children continue to accept the rules of authority figures, but this is now due to their belief that this is necessary to ensure positive relationships and societal order. Adherence to rules and conventions is somewhat rigid during these stages and a rule is appropriateness or fairness is seldom questioned.

• Stage 3: "Good Boy, Nice Girl" Orientation. In stage 3, children want the approval of others and act in ways to avoid disapproval. Emphasis is placed on good behavior and people being nice to others. The individual is good in order to be seen as being a good person by others. Therefore, answers relate to the approval or others. The individual values caring and loyalty to others as a basis for moral judgments. E.g. if a politician is around in times of calamities primarily because he wants to appear "good boy'" or "good girl" to electorates, he displays stage 3 moral developmental stage.

"To show to my parents and teachers that I am a good student" and " I promised by parents never to be absent fall under this stage of good boy, nice girl orientation.

• Stage 4. Law and Order Orientation. The child/individual becomes aware of the wider rules of society, so judgments concern obeying the rules in order to uphold the law and to avoid guilt. It is a matter of "I have to do this because the law says so." It is still blind obedience to the law so morality still lacks internalization. "It is the right thing to do; "school rules say so'" as reasons for going to school are in stage 4.

Level 3 - Post-conventional Morality

This is the level of full internalization. Morality is completely internalized and not based on external standards. Individual judgment is based on self-chosen principles and moral reasoning is based on individual rights and justice. According to Kohlberg this level of moral reasoning is as far as most people get.

• Stage 5. Social contract orientation - The child/individual becomes aware that while rules/laws might exist for the good of the greatest number, there are times when they will work against the interest of particular individuals. In this level, individuals reason out that values, rights and principles transcend the law.

Laws are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid orders. Those that do not promote the general welfare should be changed when necessary to meet the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

Stage 6. Universal, ethical, principle orientation. Individuals at this nave developed their own set of moral guidelines which may not fit the law. They have developed moral judgments that are based on universal human rights .The principles apply to everyone,

e.g. human rights, justice, und equality. The person will be prepared to act to defend these principles even if it means going against the rest of society in the process and having to pay the consequences of disapproval and/or or imprisonment. When faced with a dilemma between law and conscience, the person follows his conscience.

Kohlberg doubted few people reached this stage. (McLcod, 2013)

Development of conscience-based moral decision

Moral development includes development of conscience-based moral decision. This is in the post-conventional level of Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Panizo defines conscience as "an act of the practical judgment of reason deciding upon an individual action as good and to be performed and as evil and to be avoided." It is metaphorically referred to as the "inner or little voice of God." Panizo (1964) quotes St. Thomas regarding the obligatory force of conscience: "Every conscience, whether right or erroneous, whether with regard to acts which are evil in themselves or acts which are indifferent, is obligatory, so that he who acts in opposition to his conscience, does wrong."

Rev. Thomas V. Berg, (2012) defines conscience as follows:

In the NL (natural law) tradition, conscience is understood to be a judgment emanating from human reason about choices and actions to be made, or accomplished, or already opted for and performed...

Aquinas held that conscience, in the strict sense, was as an act of human reason-called a judgment-following upon, and concluding, a time of deliberation. In this sense, conscience is the interior resounding of reason. Conscience is reason's awareness of a choice, or an action's harmony or disharmony, with the kind of behavior which truly leads to our genuine well-being, and flourishing.

If our choice or action is not in accord with the judgment of a rightly formed and active conscience, then that judgment will linger in our conscious awareness, presenting itself as a felt disharmony between the choice, and the moral norm (and corresponding virtue), being violated. While such felt disharmony is indeed of an emotive nature (e.g. a healthy emotional guilt), the judgment of conscience remains something distinct and irreducible to the negative feeling which happens to accompany it.

The formation of conscience

Corresponding therefore to the prior discussion on moral development is the formation of conscience. What then is meant when it is said that the conscience must be "formed"?

...First, conscience formation begins with the deep-seated decision to seek moral truth. One adopts, as a way of life, the habit of seeking out answers to questions about right and wrong, persevering in that quest until one arrives at a state of moral certainty, after having made the most reasonable effort possible to arrive at those answers. Second, a sound conscience must stand on the firm foundation of integrity, sincerity and forthrightness. Duplicity. personal inconsistency and dishonesty undermine any hope of forming a properly functioning conscience. Third, conscience formation is sustained by the habit of consistently educating oneself by exposure to objective moral norms and the rationale behind those norms.

Conscience needs a guide.. The Church's moral teaching, while certainly enlightened by divinely revealed law, is, at its core, the application of what this tradition has discovered ovèr the centuries about the kinds of behavior that lead us to live genuinely fulfilling, human lives. You do not place yourself at odds with such a tradition lightly.

Consequently, conscience formation requires a habit of on- going self-formation (what we might call moral information gathering) through study, reading, and other types of inquiry. This includes consultation with persons whose moral judgment we know to be sound and in accord with the Church's moral tradition. Finally, conscience, if it is to be correct, needs the assistance of the virtue of prudence. By "prudence," we mean the virtue as understood within the NL (natural law) tradition. This should not be confused with timidity, "covering one's back" or dissimulation (hiding the truth). Berg, 2012.

It may be added, as clarified in Fr. Vitaliano Gorospe (1974), that getting to the highest-level, conscience-based moral decision can mean the widening human consciousness. It is a growth or development from family consciousness to clan consciousness, community consciousness, town consciousness, provincial, regional, national, and international or global consciousness. As one's consciousness widens, the moral parameters or standards of one's decision making widens, one's moral conscience widens, one matures.