Abstract

Annotation Kohlberg's critics have maintained that his theory of moral development rests on the existence of moral stages. The critics (including myself) argue that stages don't exist and thus that Kohlberg's theory is false. Donald R.C. Reed's fine book will put a stop to this sort of dismissive argument. Reed provides a careful reading of Kohlberg's corpus and shows how his concerns with justice, fairness, democratic community, and moral education can be appreciated independently of the status of moral stage theory. A fine and careful study.