Bildung und der Dinfluss von Argumenten auf das Moralische Urteil

According to Kohlberg our moral judgment develops in an irreversible sequence of 6 stages. Starting on a level where moral problems are perceived from an egocentric point of view until an increasingly broader and more integrated perspective replaces the initially more restricted one. By using a vignette design on the background of this theory euthanasia was selected as an example to investigate to what extent arguments can morally justify a decision. In order to judge which arguments are adequate and which are less adequate cognitive competence is required. A central task of the education system is to increase this competence. Therefore it is assumed that the impact of different arguments depends above all on the level of education. All in all, the empirical analyses reported in this article do not confirm these hypotheses. In methodological respect the analyses go beyond earlier research since a recently developed multi level procedure is used. This allows an estimate of the intra-individual answer behavior of respondents and inter-individual differences between respondents simultaneously.