Moral Development as Self-Transcendence
Horizons January 1, 1977 DOI: 10.1017/s0360966900014122 (opens in new tab)
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThis essay argues that developmental moral psychology reveals a drive for self-transcendence that underlies both religious experience and moral consciousness. Drawing on major psychological theorists, the author contends that this drive constitutes the dynamic factor in moral consciousness, making authentic morality and genuine religion expressions of a single radical dynamism of the human spirit. The work contributes to religious ethics by interpreting the relationship between religion and morality through the lens of developmental psychology.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Argues that a criterion of self-transcendence implicit in developmental psychological perspectives grounds both religious experience and moral consciousness, making them expressions of a single dynamism. |
Abstract
AbstractThis essay explicates a contribution of developmental moral psychology to religious ethics in the task of interpreting the relationship between religion and morality. It argues that a criterion of self-transcendence is implicit in the developmental perspectives of major psychological theorists, and from this that the same drive for self-transcendence which grounds religious experience also constitutes the dynamic factor in moral consciousness—that both authentic morality and genuine religion are expressions of a single radical dynamism of the human spirit.