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Moral Development as Self-Transcendence

Walter E. Conn

Horizons 1977 DOI: 10.1017/s0360966900014122 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Key points 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.