The Moral Scientist: The Life and Thought of Lawrence Kohlberg, 1927–1987

Eric Luckey

The Moral Scientist: The Life and Thought of Lawrence Kohlberg, 1927–1987 examines how postwar efforts to study morality scientifically reshaped educational thought and practice in the United States. Through an intellectual history centered on Lawrence Kohlberg—whose stage theory of moral development defined the field of moral psychology for a generation—the project argues that his moral psychology did more than describe individual development; it translated moral and democratic ideals into the language of developmental science. Situated within the political and moral ambitions of the Cold War, Kohlberg's work resonated because it offered a scientific foundation for a moral education aimed at cultivating autonomous, rational individuals amid anxieties about totalitarianism, mass society, and the fragility of democratic life. Yet as Kohlberg's framework rose to prominence, the upheavals of the late 1960s and 1970s reshaped the moral landscape, prompting feminist critiques that challenged his methodology and, more fundamentally, his universalist assumptions, reflecting and accelerating a broader shift in American moral thought—from universalism toward more relational, contextual, and pluralist understandings of moral life. By tracing this transformation in Americans' moral intuitions, The Moral Scientist reveals how changing conceptions of morality and justice reshaped educational theory and practice and continue to inform debates about teaching, citizenship, and the pursuit of justice in a pluralistic democracy.

About Eric Luckey

Eric Luckey is an Assistant Professor in Educational Foundations at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He teaches courses on educational philosophy, assessment, and research methods. He earned his Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In his research, he draws on intellectual and cultural history to examine how theories of morality and human development have informed the purposes of schooling and the moral foundations of democratic life. His research has appeared in Paedagogica Historica, The Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, and Theory and Research in Education, and his essays have appeared in Commonweal and The Hedgehog Review. Before graduate study, he worked as a TEFL teacher in Bulgan, Mongolia.